by Franklin W. Liu

Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone and his wife Nancy took front row seats at the pre-convention rally and fundraiser concert for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee John F. Kerry June 12 at the FleetCenter Pavillion.

“I have been helping to organize the Somerville Democrats to get out the vote and to possibly help in other New England states in the fall,” Curtatone said.

“It’s nice to see how unified Democrats are around defeating George Bush,” he said. After Jackson Browne and Michelle Branch entertained the crowd with guitar solos and duets, Kerry and his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, spoke to the 5,000 attendees.

“Can we just take a vote now?” Kerry elatedly asked after walking on stage to thunderous applause.

“This is the first time Teresa and I have been back to Boston in three months,” Kerry said. “Teresa and I found we can actually discuss important issues that make a difference to our lives all across the country—from Iowa, to New Hampshire, to Missouri, to Oregon.”

Taking the microphone, Heinz Kerry said, “I sensed a huge wave in the country that things will be changing for the better. I have the right to say that because I have been campaigning almost incessantly since the beginning of September and I feel a difference.

“Together, what we have to offer each other in this country is the harnessing of our very best instincts, of our very best moments in history, of our idealism, of our hopes, of our creativity, of our can-do character, of our generosity of spirit and heart,” she said.

“In essence, we have to go back, to dream, to be the Americans we know we can be—the country is worth it.”

In his speech, Kerry urged Americans to vote. “We have too much at stake,” he said. “This is the most important election in your lifetime. The Supreme Court of the United States, the right of a woman in America to choose—“ His words were drowned out by the crowd’s applause.

“The reasons are simple,” Kerry said when the noise subsided. “These are thing that ultimately make us strong at home, and ultimately define the qualities of our lives and who we are as Americans.”
Quoting President John F. Kennedy, Kerry said that every
generation gets its chance to write a part of history. “That’s what this is about. It’s not about Republican values or Democratic values; they are American values.

“We have the ability to take great ideas and turn them into products and turn them into things to help people. All you have to do is ask, ‘What if?’

“What if we can cure Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s by stem-cell research?” Kerry said. “John Edwards and I are going to prove to America that tomorrow could be better than today. Together, we can build a stronger America.”

Prior to Kerry coming on stage, campaign workers hurriedly distributed countless campaign posters to the crowd to wave in front of local and out-of-town media covering the event.

Nasim G. Memon, a two-year resident of Somerville who lives near Davis Square, said she was very impressed with Teresa Heinz and how she presented herself. “I was also captivated by the chemistry that Teresa and John Kerry had on stage,” she said.

“Kerry did a great job addressing the issues of work, labor, family values. John Kerry also made a great comment about the U.S. not going to war unless it was really necessary. Because we have to, not because we want to”

Memon said that she was proud to have been a long-time Kerry supporter even when many Democrats were rallying behind former Vermont governor Howard B. Dean III. Memon said she looks forward to working as a team captain at the 2004 DNC Convention.

Memon said she enjoyed Kerry’s speech and found it motivating. “I just hope he and Edwards stay true to their promises when they get elected,” she said.