By Gregory Korte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

John Kerry addresses Democratic supporters at a fund-raising luncheon at the Sheraton Four Points Hotel downtown on Tuesday. The event was hosted by Stan Chesley, Allan Berliant and Jennie Rosenthal Berliant. The Cincinnati Enquirer/PATRICK REDDY

Acknowledging in Cincinnati on Tuesday that the economy is starting to improve, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry nonetheless criticized economic policies that are causing what he called a "middle-class squeeze."

Kerry's million-dollar luncheon downtown was "the most successful fund-raiser for a Democratic non-incumbent in the history of Hamilton County," said Stan Chesley, a host of the event and Cincinnati's biggest Democratic fund-raiser.

Saying his "heart is with the middle class," the Massachusetts senator hit hard on economic themes in a 25-minute speech to about 450 people who paid at least $1,000 each at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel downtown.

Most of Kerry's emphasis Tuesday was - and will be through the rest of the week - on what he calls the "middle-class squeeze."

The Republican response to Kerry's two-day Ohio tour was to blast the Democrat for being too "doom and gloom."

"I know it is in John Kerry's political interests to badmouth the economy and compare it to the Great Depression, but the truth is we are experiencing the fastest economic growth in 20 years," said Rep. Rob Portman, R-Terrace Park, the communications chairman of Bush's Ohio campaign.

Kerry acknowledged that the job numbers have recently begun to improve. But he said the economy has still lost 2 million jobs since Bush took office and promised to create 5.1 million jobs.

Even so, Kerry said, the job numbers don't tell the whole story. He said the costs of health care, tuition and gasoline are leading to "downsized dreams" for America's young people.

The story of his campaign, he said, is in the stories of everyday Americans.

"I've talked to steel workers and mine workers and auto workers who are no longer workers, who have actually been asked to unbolt their equipment and send it overseas - and then to train their replacements," he said.

"Now, I'm not going to pander to anyone in this nation. Yes, we are going to outsource. Yes, we're going to lose jobs. But can you explain to me the rationale for American taxpayers to actually subsidize the loss of their own jobs?" he said, criticizing a tax code that he says does just that.

While domestic policy dominated, the biggest applause line came when he talked about foreign policy, saying, "The United States of America should never go to war because it wants to. We should only go to war because we have to."

Kerry said it was the responsibility of the commander in chief to look the family of each dead soldier in the eye and tell them he did everything he could do to avoid casualties.

"I respectfully believe that in this particular effort today, the commander in chief fails that test," Kerry said. "I will tell the truth to the American people about war and peace."

Kerry's Tuesday speech was new - a stump speech honed over the last week, when he suspended campaigning out of respect for the late President Ronald Reagan.

Four times, Kerry began a sentence with, "I'm running for president because . . ." The reasons:

• "To put America back to work."

• "Because health care is not a benefit for the wealthy."

• "Because I know that we could be a hell of a lot stronger in the world."

• "Because I believe we can build an even more effective military."

Kerry ended the speech with a poem by Langston Hughes that's likely to be a major theme of the campaign: "Let America be America again. Let it be the dream it used to be."

Kerry acknowledged that he was farming for campaign funds in one of the most fertile Republican areas in the country. But he said he wasn't conceding Cincinnati to anyone.

"I know there are some conservative counties around here, and some Republicans in the area. I want them to listen to me," he said, noting that it was Democrats who presided over the balanced budgets of the early 1990s.

Kerry, who last visited Cincinnati for a public rally April 6, acknowledged that the most his campaign had expected to raise in Cincinnati was $400,000.

But local Democrats said the success of the fund-raiser is evidence that Kerry does have strong appeal in an area that boasts some of Bush's biggest supporters.

"The key here is the commitment from people I've never seen before, and the diversity of the crowd," said Chesley, a class-action lawyer who calls himself "the great equalizer" for his ability to raise Democratic money in a Republican town. Chesley's Amberley Village home was a frequent fund-raising stop for President Clinton.

Two of those new faces in the crowd are Allan Berliant and Jennie Rosenthal Berliant of East Walnut Hills, two self-proclaimed "political novices" who were co-hosts of Tuesday's event.

"If we can just drive this county four or five points to the left.... And we can win the state of Ohio. And if we win the state of Ohio, we will win the White House," said Jennie Rosenthal Berliant.

Email gkorte@enquirer.com