KERRY CRANKS UP CAMPAIGN EFFORTS

WASHINGTON - Senator John F. Kerry's new political actioncommittee has conducted two training sessions for would-bepresidential campaign workers and is now relocating them to statesconsidered key in 2004 to work on House and Senate races, aidesacknowledged yesterday.

One trainee is heading to South Carolina to work on the campaignof Democrat Alex Sanders, who is battling Republican RepresentativeLindsey Graham to succeed the state's legendary senator, StromThurmond. In that particular instance, Kerry is indirectly paying theworker's salary, having made sizable donations to the South CarolinaDemocratic Party and the Sanders campaign from his PAC, known as theCitizen Soldier Fund.

Kerry's steps are part of a political arms race among would-bepresidential contenders. For example, a Washington political activistloyal to Senator John Edwards of North Carolina recently becamedeputy communications director for the Iowa Democratic Party. Thechief of staff to Representative Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri, theHouse minority leader, recently dispatched an aide to Iowa to work ona state Senate campaign, while another Gephardt worker is serving asa regional field coordinator for New Hampshire congressionalcandidate Martha Fuller Clark.

All three lawmakers are among those positioning themselves to seekthe 2004 Democratic presidential nomination. A Kerry aide said theiractivities have three things in common: They ingratiate thecandidates to the local Democratic party, they identify up-and-coming campaign workers, and they bring back valuable intelligencesuch as important contacts within the business, labor, and mediacommunities.

"Hopefully because we found them and trained them and got them ajob, hopefully they'll be loyal to us, but there is no quid pro quo,"said one Kerry aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

A Gephardt aide said: "In these early states, it's all a matter ofactivists. It's quite different to have someone who is immersed inthe local politics vs. having to bring in someone from the outsidewho has to learn it all from scratch."

While insisting that he is focused on seeking reelection thisfall, Kerry is taking advantage of having no Republican challenger tobroaden his national portfolio. His efforts are modeled after thoseemployed by two other Democratic presidential candidates, BillBradley and Al Gore. Bradley organized similar training sessions in1996 and 1998 before his shortlived campaign for the 2000 Democraticnomination. Gore, who lost the 2000 general election to PresidentBush, rebounded last summer with a training session in Tennessee forgrass-roots workers. He is considering another run for the WhiteHouse in 2004.

The two training sessions were held in May and June in Boston, atthe Painters and Allied Trades union hall in Roslindale, according toKerry spokeswoman Kelley Benander. Kerry called in to each event overspeakerphone to greet the attendees, estimated at 20 for the firstgathering and 40 to 50 for the second. Key Kerry political aides wereinvolved, including Jim Jordan, who runs the Citizen Soldier Fund,and Jill Alper, a political consultant at Boston's Dewey Square Groupwho is assisting Kerry.

Another Kerry aide, Jonathan Epstein, handled recruitment,drafting mainly recent graduates from Boston University, Brandeis,Harvard, and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and Boston,as well as other East Coast colleges.

The syllabus was Campaigns 101, with speakers touching on an arrayof topics. State committeewoman Mardee Xifaras spoke about organizingfield programs while Michael Kineavy, an aide to Boston Mayor ThomasM. Menino, spoke about canvassing and Paul Pezzella, a lobbyist fromWorcester and former Dukakis campaign worker, handled get-out-the-vote efforts.

Kerry is focused on Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, thefirst three key presidential states in 2004. His committeerecommended a trainee to the Amanda Ragan state Senate specialelection in Iowa, and other trainees may be placed soon in Michigan,Florida, and Wisconsin, aides to the senator said.

PACS such as the Citizen Soldier Fund cannot directly pay thesalary for a campaign worker but that prohibition can be sidesteppedby candidates who make large donations to state parties. The partiesin turn pay the workers' salaries.

In another sign of Kerry's intentions, the senator recentlyrenewed his lease on a variety of Internet domain names, includingwww.kerry2004.com. Benander said Kerry has owned domain names for allpermutations of his name, both positive and negative, since 1999, toprevent so-called cybersquatters from claiming them and then seekingcash from Kerry or attempting to embarrass him.

Should Kerry run for president, it is unlikely he would use the"Kerry2004" site, since he has invested heavily in developing hisexisting site, www.johnkerry.com.

Glen Johnson can be reached at johnson@globe.com.