Decision of a generation

For senior Shaunica Pridgen, the best candidate in the 2004 presidential election couldn't be any clearer.\nIt has to be Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic nominee.\n"The last four years have been a disaster," Pridgen said. "A disaster in terms of our relationships with other countries, in terms of the war in Iraq, in terms of where our country is headed, and Kerry has the needed leadership."\nPridgen said Kerry shares many of her values -- namely similar views on how to address health care and economic concerns college students have. Kerry believes Social Security should not be privatized; so does Pridgen. Kerry believes President George W. Bush's tax cuts of 2001 should be rolled back for people making more than $200,000; so does Pridgen.\n"The tax cuts have been terribly, horribly implemented," she said. "I don't think that they gave the most help to the people who needed the most help."\nPridgen is not alone in her support of Kerry. A national poll released by Harvard's Institute of Politics last week showed Kerry maintains a 13-point lead among college students. But with the election one week away, Kerry still has an excruciating campaign to finish, and strengths and weaknesses to balance.\nJames Andrews, a professor of communications and culture who focuses on presidential rhetoric, said the tricky thing about politics is that candidates can be seen in a million different lights. Strengths for some audiences are weaknesses for others, and vice versa. It is perhaps one of the foremost explanations for such stratified responses to the question of Kerry's consistency or inconsistency.\n"I think Kerry has done a lot better in terms of being able to deal with issues without being too verbose, too ponderous," Andrews said. "The difficulty is, whereas some people may say understanding the complexity of issues is a good idea, it tends to suggest to a lot of people that he can't make up his mind."\nAndrews said the Bush campaign has effectively taken this quality and made it into the flip-flopping charge, which only after the debates does Kerry seem to be escaping.\n"I think Kerry has improved and done a much better job now, projecting a kind of image that he can solve problems," Andrews said. "He has certainly improved in terms of the way he addresses questions, but now you can almost lip-sync his answers."\nKerry defeated nine challengers during the 2004 presidential primary campaign for the Democratic nomination, with voters largely identifying him as the most "electable" candidate.\nDespite a 20-year Senate presence, no notable pieces of legislation bear Kerry's name. He is better known for his presence on the diplomatic Foreign Relations Committee, where he has served for his entire senatorial tenure, and investigations into Gen. Manuel Noriega's drug-trafficking and money laundering, as well as the early stages of the Iran-Contra Affair.\nKerry has said his proudest congressional achievement was his work with Sen. John McCain to account for missing soldiers or prisoners-of-war in Vietnam, which paved the way for re-established diplomatic relations with Vietnam and the United States.\nJohn Forbes Kerry, the 61-year-old junior senator from Massachusetts, graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in political science in 1966. A member of the Skull and Bones Society, Kerry was elected president of the Yale Political Union in his sophomore year.\nFollowing graduation, Kerry voluntarily enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserves and served as a lieutenant in the Vietnam War, commandeering a patrol boat on the Mekong Delta. Kerry left the war medaled yet disillusioned; he earned three Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star and a Silver Star for battle, and converted his war experience into a protest cause and became one of the leaders of Vietnam Veterans Against the War.\nKerry entered politics in 1972, tagged as a carpetbagger after an embarrassing search for which U.S. House district in Massachusetts he might have the best chance of winning. After he lost to Republican Paul Cronin, Kerry entered Boston College Law School and received his law degree in 1976. He worked as an assistant district attorney for Middlesex County until he won election as lieutenant governor of Massachusetts under Michael Dukakis. He won the Senate seat he holds today in 1984.\n-- Contact senior writer Tony Sams at ajsams@indiana.edu.