JOHN KERRY is facing his first primary opponent since he was elected to the US Senate in 1984. Perhaps he has become a larger target since running unsuccessfully for president four years ago, or, in some quarters, because of his vote in 2002 to authorize the use of force in Iraq. But over a long career Kerry has been steadfast in his commitment to Democratic principles, and he has worked tirelessly to advance those principles in straitened political times. The Globe endorses John F. Kerry in the Democratic primary for US Senate Sept. 16.
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More broadly, Kerry has been a strong and often prescient voice: on climate change, on global terrorism threats, on AIDS. He led the 2005 filibuster that ended - by one vote - the Republican effort to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He has been a stalwart friend to veterans, increasing their pay, helping them get small business assistance and fighting for improved healthcare. With a fellow veteran, Republican John McCain, he negotiated painful issues regarding wartime MIAs, which led to normalized relations with Vietnam.
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Kerry has long labored in the shadow of the senior senator, Ted Kennedy, perhaps the most accomplished legislator in US history. Kerry is no Ted Kennedy, nor does he want to even consider a day when he may need to take over Kennedy's role. But we suspect part of the message the Democratic state convention was sending Kerry when O'Reilly won 23 percent of the vote in June was that Kerry needs to step up the pace, applying his prodigious smarts and connections to achieve gains in public policy.
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You've been loyal to your party, flying around the country and raising millions to help elect other Democrats, even after giving up on another presidential run of your own.

And even though you still get grief for your constituent services, you have 14 workers in Massachusetts working 800 cases a month for veterans and immigrants and fans who wanted the Patriots' last game of the season to be broadcast outside I-495.

A lot of people are saying you've got a chance to be secretary of state, or defense, if Obama wins. You bat back that talk, knowing that your critics would accuse you of using your office as a stepping stone, even after 24 years, if you didn't.
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