WASHINGTON, Nov 3 (AFP) - He called himself the comeback kid, a late-sprinting closer. But after remarkable turnarounds, John Kerry's lifetime quest for the presidency of the United States ended a comeback short.
Kerry conceded the White House to President George W. Bush on Wednesday after the longest and costliest election in US history left him a state away from victory and no more room to maneuver.
But back against the wall was a familiar position for the veteran senator from Massachusetts who launched his presidential drive after bouncing back from prostate cancer surgery.
When his bid for the Democratic nomination was on the verge of collapse last year, the 60-year-old Kerry refused to throw in the towel and mortgaged half of his family home in Boston to keep going.
And when Bush looked poised to wipe him out in September with relentless jabs at his leadership skills, the Democrat countered with blistering attacks on Iraq and strong, campaign-saving performances in their three debates.
"When you go state-to-state and people -- so many thousands of them -- invest their hopes in you. People tell you their life stories," he told reporters Tuesday.
"They share their troubles. They share their dreams. If you're not moved by that, you're missing something. And I'm deeply moved by it."
The lanky, patrician Kerry had to endure relentless Republican attacks on his leadership capacity throughout the campaign. He was also branded a flip-flopper for voting to authorize military action in Iraq and then opposing the war.
But political fire was also familiar to the decorated Vietnam war veteran.
Disillusioned by US motives in Asia and after half a dozen friends from Yale University were killed in Vietnam, Kerry came back to join the anti-war movement.
"How do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Vietnam? How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?" he demanded before the Senate foreign relations committee in April 1971, securing nationwide fame and a place on President Richard Nixon's "enemies" list.
Having fought to get a place in the US Senate, Kerry hit a new low point in 1996 when he had to inject 1.6 million dollars of his own money into his campaign to fight off a Republican challenge.
He did the same when he trailed fiery liberal Howard Dean in polls in the race for the Democratic nomination. "I believed I could fight back. I believed in the message," Kerry said at the time.
Kerry comes from a privileged family. Born on December 11, 1943 in Denver, Colorado, his mother Rosemary was part of the Forbes shipping clan. She had spent much of her early life on an estate in France.
His father, Richard, was a pilot in the Army Air Corps, who went on to join the US foreign service.
A childhood spent in private schools in Switzerland and New England fashioned the character of the so-called "Boston Brahmin" who has been on the receiving end of blistering Republican attacks for his internationalist views.
Kerry has told how World War II and following his father to Cold War diplomatic postings in Berlin and Oslo taught him the importance of the United States being at the head of international alliances to fight conflicts.
He fought for the presidency on a promise to make "America respected in the world" again after the divisions caused by the Iraq war.
Kerry studied at prestigious Yale University, where he was a member, like Bush, of the secretive Skull and Bones society. After graduating with a law degree in 1966, Kerry joined the Navy and volunteered to fight in Vietnam, where he served two tours of duty.
During the second 48-day tour, as a lieutenant in charge of a "Swift" gunboat on the Mekong Delta, Kerry was awarded three Purple Hearts for wounds suffered and a Bronze Star and a Silver Star for valour.
Kerry's anti-war comments to the Senate jolted a nation that was becoming increasingly weary of the disastrous conflict. And they came back to haunt him during the presidential campaign.
But friends say he is a true American hero. In a recent interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Kerry said he felt "bitter disappointment" that "people will stoop to those depths of lying -- for their personal reasons."
Kerry had declared his ambition to become president to his family and friends whilst still a schoolboy.
Early attempts to secure a congressional seat after winning national fame, however, were frustrating failures.
Kerry became a prosecutor in Massachusetts in 1972 but had to wait a decade before getting a foot on the political ladder as the state's lieutenant governor. It was the year he split with his wife.
In 1985 he was elected to the US Senate and he has been re-elected three times since.
In 1970, Kerry married Julia Thorne. They had two daughters but divorced in 1988 and he married ketchup heiress Teresa Heinz in 1995.
11/03/2004 16:58 GMT - AFP