On Europe, McCarthy told CNN that Kerry Group is not "turning its back" on the continent and insists that European Union membership has been very positive for the food company and Ireland.
"Many of you are our first responders here at home -- firefighters, police officers and emergency medical technicians, " Kerry told the group.
Americans for Democratic Action, a liberal political group, gave Kerry an 85 percent rating in 2002 and a 95 percent rating in 2001.
In 1995, for instance, the group gave Mr. Kerry a rank of five out of a possible 100.
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Kerry has been endorsed by one such group, the Muslim Public Affairs Council.
Among the votes the group evaluated were nine Mr. Kerry cast against developing a missile-defense system envisioned to protect the United States from nuclear attack.
CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Disqualified? John Kerry's record on national security
Kerry picked up an endorsement Saturday from the environmental group the League of Conservation Voters.
John Kerry (D-MA) reportedly told the group that he had spoken to Sen.
Upon his return home in the early 1970s, Kerry gained public recognition as the head of the group Vietnam Veterans Against the War and for his anti-war testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
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He did better than Mr Kerry among whites with a college education, a group that voted for Mr Bush in 2004, and which helped to carry him over the finish line in Virginia and Colorado, states with higher than average concentrations of the college-educated.
There have been no high-impact independent groups along the lines of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the group that played a prominent role in attacking John Kerry four years ago.
Among this group, he beat Mr Gore by 17 points and Mr Kerry by 21.
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Bush spoke to the group Tuesday and noted, as he does in almost every campaign stop, that Kerry and running mate John Edwards joined most members of the Senate to give him authority in 2002 to wage war.
The phrase "swift boat" comes from the 2004 presidential election, when the group "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" launched an attack ad campaign against Democratic candidate John Kerry that was said by some to be false.
The Obama campaign has accused the group of "Swift Boat tactics", recalling a highly effective ad from 2004 which questioned John Kerry's Vietnam record.
Secretary of State John Kerry was flying to the Middle East on Monday, planning to attend a meeting Wednesday in Jordan of a group of leaders seeking the removal of Mr. Assad.
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