SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- Democrat John Kerry criticized Republicans on Wednesday for denying him a chance to cast a Senate vote, blaming a partisan culture created by President Bush and calling his rival "the greatest divider as a president in the modern history of this country."
As he returned to the campaign trail after a one-day interruption for Senate business, the four-term Massachusetts lawmaker made it clear that he would try to make the political maneuvering in the Senate an issue in his presidential bid.
Kerry told donors at a $2 million breakfast fund-raiser and later in a speech to union workers that he canceled all his campaign events Tuesday to return to Washington to vote for more spending on veterans' health care.
"But oh, no," Kerry said at the fund-raiser. "Oh, no. Not in this Senate, not with these people. Once again, it's my way or the highway, shut the door, lock the people out, don't let them take part in the democracy, don't respect the institution. Don't show the common courtesies that actually bring people together to find the common ground. So they found a way all day to twiddle their thumbs, do very little, attend a reception at the White House, but not let John Kerry vote.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/06/23/kerry.ap/index.html