WASHINGTON — The Bush administration and its supporters Monday continued to pressure Sen. John F. Kerry to identify the foreign leaders he claims want him to defeat President Bush this November, adding that if he doesn't name names, his claim must be untrue.
Meanwhile, the Kerry campaign attempted to back away from the original assertion, seizing on a reporter's clarification.
The Boston Globe reporter who was covering a Florida fundraiser for Kerry on March 8 wrote in a pool report, which was distributed to the rest of the press corps, that Kerry said he had spoken with "foreign leaders" who had indicated they want him to beat Bush.
But on Monday, the reporter said that, upon review of his tape, he realized that Kerry had in fact said "more leaders" want him to beat Bush.
During the past week, Kerry never disputed that he was talking about foreign leaders when referring to dissatisfaction abroad with Bush. He told reporters Sunday he was talking about "people around the world" at "different levels."
But the campaign said Monday that the Globe's clarification demonstrates some ambiguity about what Kerry meant. His reference to "more leaders," said Kerry's spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter, "could mean anybody." The media's repeated references to "foreign leaders" allowed critics to suggest he was talking about heads of state. "He was misquoted," said Cutter. "Had he not been misquoted, this wouldn't be a story."
Nonetheless, administration officials continued to pummel the presumed Democratic nominee over the originally reported comment about "foreign leaders." On Sunday, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell called on Kerry to name the leaders in question.
And Monday, Vice President Dick Cheney, speaking at a congressional fundraiser in Phoenix, said Americans deserved to know what the Massachusetts senator had been telling leaders abroad.
"It is our business when a candidate for president claims the political endorsement of foreign leaders," Cheney said. "At the very least, we have a right to know what he is saying to them that makes them so supportive of his candidacy."
White House spokesman Scott McClellan, at a White House briefing, suggested several times that Kerry was "making it up."
And Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), in a conference call arranged by the Bush-Cheney campaign, said: "He clearly has an obligation to, you know -- you put up or you shut up. You don't make up reckless charges and then say, 'Well, it's really secret, I can't tell you.' "
