Inside Politics

Kerry resurfaces

Sen. John Kerry met yesterday afternoon with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Harry Reid, the Nevada Democrat who will be the new Senate minority leader, to discuss the future of the Democratic Party.

“We have a lot to talk about, a lot of things to do,” Mr. Kerry told reporters, declining to give further details.

Mrs. Pelosi, California Democrat, thanked Mr. Kerry for his run for the White House, saying that it “energized America.”

“We just want to express our gratitude to him,” she said.

Although Republicans won the White House and gained seats in both the House and Senate, Mr. Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat, said that more than 54 million Americans voted with Democrats for things like health care, energy independence, stem-cell research and protecting Social Security.

“We have a very clear agenda, and I’m going to be fighting for that agenda with all of the energy I have,” he said.

When asked about his brother Cameron Kerry’s remarks to the Boston Globe recently that it’s “conceivable” Mr. Kerry could try again for the White House in 2008, Mr. Kerry laughed and said it’s “inconceivable” that people are talking about that now.

Party of Lincoln

Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee, who flirted with changing political parties in the wake of President Bush’s re-election victory, says he will stay in the Republican Party.

“My Republican colleagues have let me know that they want me in their caucus,” the Rhode Island senator said Monday. “They value the voice I bring, and they have made it very clear to me that they respect and want that voice to be heard.”

Mr. Chafee had said last week he would consider switching party affiliation if Mr. Bush won because he felt the president was taking the party too far to the right. He said he got a flurry of phone calls from Republican leaders during the weekend, including Senate Majority Whip Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and a key White House staff member, urging him to stick with the party, the Associated Press reports.

Oui, oui

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