John Kerry makes Florida pitch for Joe Biden

Having just launched a flight of ads targeting persuadable Florida voters, the Joe Biden campaign for President brought out a big-name surrogate Thursday.

Former U.S. Secretary of State and Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, the party’s 2004 nominee for President and a contemporary of the former Delaware Senator and Vice President, made the case for change in the White House in a “Miami virtual rally.”

“As President Obama used to say, fired up and ready to go,” Kerry said, saying this (and not his 2004 campaign, a rare general election that saw two members of Yale’s “Skull and Bones” society face off) could be the most important election of all time.

“Florida is a key state,” Kerry said, urging Sunshine State Democrats to mobilize around a number of issues.

Inadequate “global health pandemic response” looms as one concern.

He lauded China for having “shut it down” regarding the virus with aggressive measures, whereas the President’s approach has led to “spiking” case counts in Florida and other states.

“We have a President who literally does not believe in science, or at least doesn’t respect it,” Kerry said, bemoaning “lies” from Donald Trump.

In contrast, Biden is better positioned to lead the international committee, and, per Kerry, has “enormous integrity.”

“He came to the Senate as the poorest U.S. Senator,” Kerry said, and left as the first or second poorest.

Kerry, for his part, showed a greater increase in net worth during his time in the Senate, marrying the widow of sauce scion Sen. John Heinz.

Kerry battled a dry cough as he worked through his talking points, extolling Biden as the superior option to Trump in international relations, climate change, fixing the unemployment crisis, and other policy areas.

While the “Mar-a-lago crowd is doing just fine,” Kerry, who is worth $250 million according to one estimate, said Biden would fight for the working people.

Kerry, who will be 77 this year, chastized young people for not voting in sufficient numbers to elect Hillary Clinton in 2016, noting that only 19% of those 18 to 25 voted.

It remains to be seen if the plutocratic Kerry will ultimately be a vehicle for youth outreach, but “the importance of everybody voting” is key to him.

Before the Miami rally with state Sen. Jose Javier Rodriguez, Kerry participated in a roundtable with Rep. Donna Shalala, where he rhapsodized about Biden’s steady hand.

“The economy is not going to come back until consumers feel safe again. We need to have workers’ protection and accountability. We are lucky to have someone as experienced as Joe Biden and it’s the leadership we need,” Kerry said.

Beyond Kerry’s deployment to Miami voters, expect a strategy intended to appeal to swing voters, the cohort that broke to Donald Trump late in 2016.

The Biden campaign hopes to gain in the Tampa, Orlando, and Jacksonville markets and to establish a “strong presence in the Panhandle.”

The Trump Victory campaign panned the Senator after the rally wrapped.

“We don’t blame Joe Biden for sending John Kerry to this virtual rally after the disastrous one Biden did himself in May. As John Kerry beams into Florida to support Joe Biden, voters already know that it’s just one losing presidential candidate supporting another. Floridians soundly rejected John Kerry’s bid for president in 2004, and they won’t be any friendlier to his 2020 pick,” said spokesperson Emma Vaughn.