Kerry To Quit Kerry Campaign; Will Work For Clark Campaign

BOSTON (CT) - Senator John Kerry abruptly resigned from his own presidential campaign, taking a position offered to him within General Wesley Clark's campaign. "This is an exciting move for me,"� Kerry told reporters at a press conference outside his Boston home. "The Kerry campaign is old news. I'm very excited about the chance to support a man who I think can lead our party to victory in 2004." Kerry cited sagging poll numbers and a lack of a clear, coherent message as factors in leaving his own campaign. "The campaign was getting pretty lame, honestly," Kerry said. “I felt weird standing up there, giving speech after speech saying how great I was, when in my heart I just knew that Wesley would make a better President. This'll be a lot more fun."� Kerry had been approached by Clark advisors in recent weeks and quickly accepted a senior advisory role with their staff. Kerry already finished his first task for Clark- taping a negative ad against his former campaign, which will continue on without him. "I'm John Kerry,"� the ad begins. "There are people out there who want you to vote for me. Those people are wrong. I shouldn't be your next President. I'm a pretty weak candidate. But Wesley Clark is a strong candidate, and I hope you'll join me in voting for him for President."� Kerry for President manager Jeanne Shaheen assured reporters that the Kerry campaign was "disappointed but doing just fine"� despite losing Kerry. "It doesn't matter that our candidate is working for another candidate. John Kerry has lots of endorsements, so losing his own endorsement isn't going to slow us down. It's full speed ahead for us." She then held up the campaign's new t-shirt, which featured the slogan, "Don't listen to John Kerry! Vote Kerry!"