Shoulder Surgery Sidelines Kerry

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry had complication-free outpatient surgery Wednesday to repair a tear in his right shoulder and bicep tendons and will be back shaking voters' hands soon, although not too forcefully.

The four-term Massachusetts senator planned to be off the presidential campaign trail for the remainder of the week. Dr. Bertram Zarins, chief of sports medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, said Kerry would be in pain for a few days and probably would need an ice pack and narcotic painkillers.

Zarins said Kerry was smiling and talking shortly after coming out of the 45-minute procedure. "He joked a little bit and said, 'I hope I didn't reveal any state secrets,'" Zarins told reporters in a conference call.

Entering the hospital, Kerry joked about the large contingent of reporters on hand and the outcome of the surgery, saying, "I feel great. I'm looking forward to getting it done. I'll see you in a few hours, I hope."

Kerry, 60, tore part of his right rotator cuff in January when he wrenched the shoulder while bracing himself as his campaign bus came to an abrupt stop in Iowa.

"I'll be back faster than you can blink," the senator told the Building Trades Legislative Conference two hours before going in for surgery.

Kerry will wear a sling for a day or two before being allowed to use the arm carefully, Zarins said.

Kerry made the most of his time before surgery. He spoke by satellite to the Building Trades Legislative Conference in Washington, then held a round-table discussion with unemployed workers in Brighton, Mass.

Kerry criticized the Bush administration for allowing the federal government's emergency unemployment benefits program to expire on Wednesday. His campaign created an interactive map of the United States with state-by-state statistics meant to highlight job losses during the Bush administration.

Congress extended the unemployment benefit program twice, but Republican leaders say the economy is improving, jobs are being created and another extension is not necessary.

Kerry spent Monday and Tuesday in California, meeting with voters and raising campaign money, including at a star-studded affair in Beverly Hills attended by Meg Ryan, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Barbra Streisand and James Brolin, among others.

Kerry felt well enough for a recent weeklong skiing and snowboarding vacation in Idaho, but reported feeling pain after certain movements and chose to have the tendon surgically repaired, Zarins said.

Kerry interrupted his campaign schedule for surgery twice last year. He had a cancerous prostate removed in February 2003, followed a month later by minor outpatient surgery to remove a wart from an eyelid.

President Bush, meanwhile, was picking up $1.5 million Wednesday night at a re-election fund-raiser in the nation's capital, where he began his drive for $170 million nine months ago.

Flush with cash, the president's role as fund-raiser in chief is waning – at least as far as his own re-election treasury is concerned. His last in-person money event is scheduled for next month.

Wednesday night's appearance was a bookend of sorts to the "opening night" fund-raiser he held June 17, 2003. Some 1,100 people were expected Wednesday, and first lady Laura Bush was also attending.

The June event brought in $3.5 million.

Also Wednesday, the Bush campaign and the GOP accused the Kerry campaign of illegally coordinating political ads and get-out-the-vote activities with independent groups.

The Bush campaign and RNC said they would file a complaint with the Federal Election Commission accusing Kerry and pro-Kerry groups of violating a campaign law that broadly bans the use of "soft money" – corporate, union and unlimited individual donations – to influence federal elections.

The Bush campaign and GOP say pro-Kerry groups are illegally spending soft money in the presidential race, and that Kerry's campaign is illegally coordinating that spending. The groups have contended they are operating legally.

Kerry campaign spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter accused Republicans of political gamesmanship.

"We take the law very seriously. Republicans can't stand the fact the American people want change, so now they are playing politics with the law," Cutter said.

Groups such as the MoveOn.org Voter Fund and the Media Fund, which work on behalf of Democrats but independently of the Kerry campaign, have been running ads this month criticizing Mr. Bush in several battleground states. Kerry, too, has been airing ads in key states, but on a much smaller scale.

Wes Boyd, president of MoveOn, said in a statement: "We do not coordinate with the Kerry campaign. These charges are baseless and irresponsible."

The coordination complaint is the second complaint the Bush campaign has filed against the groups. The FEC can take months or even years to resolve complaints.

Republicans have also created such groups, but so far they have not been as prolific in their efforts as Democrats have.