 BOSTON (AP) - Sen. John Kerry fended off his first Democratic opponent in nearly a quarter century, but he got a message from voters when his relatively unknown challenger earned more than 30 percent of the vote.
The Democratic presidential nominee just four years ago, Kerry said he knows there is "a lot of anger out there."
"Government has disappointed people and it's hard sometimes to get people to understand that just because you're in government doesn't mean you're not fighting for change," he said after defeating attorney Ed O'Reilly in Tuesday's primary.
O'Reilly, who tried to make Kerry's 2003 vote authorizing President Bush to launch military action against Iraq a central issue of the campaign, said he was pleased to give voters a chance to express their frustration.
"We never wavered from the issues," he said. "We were outspent 10 to 1, and we got one-third of the vote. I think that was a pretty good showing."
Kerry now turns his attention to the November general election against Republican Jeff Beatty, a former CIA official and member of the Army's Delta Force.  Beatty said he wants to bring "accountability and focus to this state's junior Senate seat after 24 long years with John Kerry."
Sen. Edward Kennedy, the state's senior senator who is battling a malignant brain tumor, voted Tuesday morning at Town Hall in Hyannis. He later congratulated Kerry on the win.
"I look forward to returning to the United States Senate with John Kerry in January as we work to get our economy moving again," Kennedy said.
In Tuesday's other contested congressional race, Democrat U.S. Rep. John Olver, of Amherst, easily beat back a primary challenge by attorney Robert Feuer, an Iraq war critic.
Olver has held the state's westernmost congressional seat since 1991. |