Sen. Kerry has the open-mindedness and the ability to analyze difficult issues, and unlike President Bush would work collaboratively with other world leaders to solve pressing problems.
 

 On Nov. 2, choose Sen. John Kerry as next president: Every vote in the race between President George Bush and Sen. John Kerry will make a difference on Nov. 2.  The results of this close and heated election will determine not only the course of the United States in domestic issues during the next four years, but that of our dominance and respect globally.

    The Telegraph believes that John Kerry is the presidential candidate with the intellect, will and commitment to resolve the difficult issues both at home and abroad.

    These are complex and perilous times with complicated problems that demand thoughtful, reasoned resolutions.  Kerry's willingness to gather, absorb and analyze information on difficult problems before making a decision is one of his biggest assets.

    His track record also suggests that he would reach out across the aisle in a much-needed bipartisan way so that issues such as a sluggish economy, lack of health care insurance for many of our citizens as well as under-funded education mandates can start being solved.

    President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have led us into a war on false pretenses and continue to try to manipulate us to support them through fear tactics - bad things may happen if they're not voted back into office.

    Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has ineptly managed the Iraq war by using it as an opportunity to implement his theory that conflicts can be managed with fewer soldiers.  That has been disastrous for our troops and for the Iraqis.

    The president's domestic actions fare no better as the richest get significant tax cuts while the country tries to fight a war it is having trouble winning and the deficit balloons out of sight, and yet he continues to talk about tax cuts.

    And while tax cuts are popular, there are important choices to be made in funding domestic priorities even as the country's armed forces remain in Iraq with few countries sharing that economic burden.

    Kerry is committed to ending tax cuts for the wealthiest among us so these priorities can be addressed, including lowering the ever-growing deficit.

    Kerry and John Edwards, his vice presidential running mate, are both committed to revisiting free trade agreements and trying to make sure that foreign nations comply fully with the pacts they have signed with our country.

    This is an important component of the country's foreign policy as Americans lose their jobs when work is moved overseas where it can be done for much less money.

    They have also pledged to provide all Americans with health care insurance, including relief for businesses that have employees with catastrophic health care costs as well as refundable tax credits for health care coverage for small businesses and their employees.

    Bush and his administration have steadily weakened environmental rules and looking to tap oil in Alaska but not pushing carmakers to increase gas-mileage standards to decrease America's reliance on foreign oil.

    An important part of the Kerry platform is investment in new energy sources, with the goal of producing 20 percent of all our electricity from renewable sources by 2020, along with tax credits to carmakers that produce the next generation of automobiles and companies that make new energy-efficient appliances.

    One of the biggest moves this country could make to help itself would be to have less reliance on foreign oil for its energy needs.

    Electing Bush and Cheney to a second term would be detrimental to our country, its economy and its relationship with the rest of the world.  Their performance over the past four years speaks for itself.

    Kerry's openness to the ideas of others and his conviction that working together is preferable to working alone creates the potential for successful agreements with other world leaders as we go about the remaining work to be done in Iraq and Afghanistan.

    Kerry served in the Navy during the Vietnam War under combat conditions and knows first hand the sacrifices members of the military make under hostile and dangerous circumstances.

    The importance of supplying our military with the proper equipment and adequate manpower will be uppermost in his mind.  He is suited to be commander in chief.

    His record in the Senate has been one of working with others to move important issues forward, such as the Clean Air Act in 1990.

    With Kerry as president, Americans would have someone in the Oval Office who knows the workings of the federal government from his years in Congress and wouldn't need a coterie of advisers to coach him on the basic steps to getting things done.

    A vote for him is a vote to solve problems in a collaborative way as the United States moves through a dangerous and complex world with no easy answers.