Kerry Heads to Iowa on Sunday to Energize Party Activists

John Kerry is scheduled to appear to Iowa on Sunday to raise money for local Iowa candidates and touch base with Democratic party activists.

The U.S. senator from Massachusetts is among a half-dozen potential 2008 presidential candidates planning October visits to Iowa, where the precinct caucuses are expected to kick off the nomination run.

Kerry, making his first trip to Iowa this year, plans to headline a morning meeting of Democratic women in Des Moines, help a Cedar Rapids City Council candidate campaign in the afternoon and attend a late-afternoon meeting of the Johnson County Democratic Party in Iowa City.

Sarah Swisher, chairwoman of the Johnson County Democrats said "a Kerry representative called Monday and confirmed the senator" will be Iowa City from 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday.

"He's truly coming to help us with our outreach and our party-building activities in Johnson County," Swisher said. "Sen. Kerry in many ways is the head of our national party. His voice not only inspires, but informs us. So I think we'll have party members both interested in what happened in 2004, but also how to bring home important Democratic victories in 2006."

Swisher said Kerry also wanted to thank Johnson County voters who overwhelmingly picked him for president last November. Kerry received 64 percent of the vote in Johnson County compared to nearly 35 percent for President Bush, who ultimately carried Iowa and won a second term.