Kerry picks up easy wins in Utah, Idaho

WASHINGTON (REUTERS) — Democratic presidential frontrunner John Kerry scored easy wins in largely ignored contests in Idaho and Utah Tuesday, expanding his lead in the party’s nomination fight as he looked ahead to next week’s 10-state showdown with rival John Edwards.

The two wins give Kerry 17 victories in the first 19 contests in the race to find a Democratic challenger to President Bush. He hoped to pick up one more win later Tuesday in Hawaii.

There were 61 delegates to July’s Democratic nominating convention at stake in Hawaii, Utah and Idaho, but the three states had been ignored by Kerry and Edwards as they focused on next week’s potentially decisive “Super Tuesday” showdown.

The 10 states voting that day will include big prizes like California, New York, Ohio and Georgia, with more than half of the 2,162 delegates needed to win the nomination at stake.

In incomplete returns in Idaho and Utah, Kerry won more than half of the votes. Edwards won about 20 percent of the vote in Idaho and 30 percent of the vote in Utah.

The three contests Tuesday came a day after Bush launched his re-election drive with a strong defense of his administration and a direct attack on Kerry. Edwards took pains to remind Bush and Democrats that the nomination race was far from over.

“Not so fast, George Bush, you don’t get to decide who our nominee is,” Edwards said in Atlanta, reprising a line he used against Kerry last week in a Wisconsin debate.

Edwards and Kerry both spent Tuesday campaigning in states that will vote next week, pushing their plans to create jobs and improve opportunities for workers.

Kerry met with unemployed workers in Struthers, Ohio, including an ironworker who said he was struggling to pay for prescription drugs he needs for diabetes. More than 160,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost in Ohio during the Bush presidency.

“That’s exactly what we’re going to change,” Kerry told the worker. “Nobody in America should be in fear for their health.”

Edwards hits Bush foreign policy

Edwards, a North Carolina senator, stressed his opposition to trade pacts like the North American Free Trade Agreement and criticized Bush’s foreign policy, which he said “disrespected” other countries. He promised to rebuild America’s credibility around the world.

“The truth is, every child and every family in America will be safer and more secure in a world where we’re respected and looked up to again,” Edwards said.

The event in Atlanta, where Edwards was endorsed by 30 state legislators, was his sixth in Georgia. Edwards also has been pushing for votes in Ohio, New York and Minnesota, hit hard by job losses.

Kerry, a four-term Massachusetts senator and decorated Vietnam War veteran who has come under fire for his Senate votes against military weapons programs, began airing television ads in Ohio, California and upstate New York featuring a crewmate from the Navy Swift boat he commanded.

Kerry said Bush’s speech Monday night defending his administration and attacking Democrats was “almost a fantasy speech about a world that doesn’t exist for most Americans.”

Edwards and Kerry both condemned Bush’s decision to support a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, accusing him of playing politics with the Constitution and ignoring real needs to focus on divisive social issues.

“All Americans should be concerned when a president who is in political trouble tries to tamper with the Constitution of the United States at the start of his re-election campaign,” Kerry said.

Added Edwards: “Washington has no business playing politics with this issue. Marriage is left to the states today and should remain with the states.”