Vanessa Kerry doesn’t try to hide her frustration with the recent criticism of her father’s war record.

Kerry
"I’m a little disgusted," she said yesterday, adding that she gets "really heated up" when she talks about the issue.

Kerry, the younger of Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry’s two daughters, spoke with the Tribune by telephone yesterday to highlight a Democratic community service project aimed at Missouri college students.

But she also touched on a variety of political and personal issues.

The 27-year-old medical student - who is on hiatus from Harvard University as she campaigns for her father - said much is at stake for her generation of voters because policies are being made that won’t kick in for years. As an example, she cited the environmental policies of President George W. Bush’s administration and tax cuts he’s pressed.

"I’m all for people getting money back, but I don’t think the wealthiest Americans need to take home the most," she said.

Kerry said her father has a record of conviction and optimism and described the nominee with the familiarity that only a daughter could employ. She recalled telling him recently about a story in the Los Angeles Times detailing the closure of emergency rooms in that city because of the costs of caring for uninsured patients. Her father, she said, "freaked out" and quickly read the article.

"He’s living and breathing this," she said. "This is not something that is for show."

As a daughter of the candidate, Vanessa Kerry is one of many surrogates lavishing attention on battleground states on behalf of the Kerry-Edwards ticket. She said she is enjoying the campaign, although she doesn’t enjoy the fact that strangers now recognize her.

Her main focus, she said, is motivating young voters to become involved, as in the "Call To Serve Presidential Debate Project." Under that program, announced last week, Missouri students are being challenged to perform community service. The two students who perform the most service between Aug. 20 and Sept. 30 will receive two tickets to the presidential debate scheduled Oct. 8 at Washington University in St. Louis. Details are available at www.johnkerry.com/missouridebate.

"Encouraging" community service "and being a part of that is really important to me," Kerry said.

In recent weeks, an organization called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth has roiled the presidential campaign by airing television ads that accuse John Kerry of lying about his record as a war hero in Vietnam.

Vanessa Kerry said she’s discussed the controversy with her father and that he has expressed frustration that "people that he served with are also being tarnished by these accusations."

Paul Sloca, a spokesman for the state Republican party, said the GOP also thinks the youth vote is important, adding that "hard-working Americans got their money back" because of Bush’s tax cuts.

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