(Mount Pleasant) Sept. 2, 2003 - Massachusetts Senator John Kerry on Tuesday morning officially declared his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination for which he's been campaigning for months.

Kerry made the announcement at Patriot's Point in Mount Pleasant with the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown in the background.

He told supporters in South Carolina, "George Bush's vision does not live up to the America I enlisted in the Navy to defend, the America I have fought for in the Senate and the America that I hope to lead as president. And, everyday of this campaign, I will challenge George Bush for fundamentally taking our country in the wrong direction." The Democrat was joined by crew members of a Navy gunboat he commanded in Vietnam's Mekong Delta, where he won medals for valor.

The Vietnam War veteran presented himself as the alternative to the Republican Bush.

He says the president's policies have isolated America overseas, while making Americans less secure and jobless at home. Kerry says American troops on the ground in Iraq are in danger every day and will continue to be threatened unless the US has more international help in keeping the peace.

At home, Kerry says Bush has a "radical new vision" of a government that helps the rich at the expense of ordinary Americans, and the senator said he rejects what he calls President Bush's "new vision of a government that comforts the comfortable at the expense of ordinary Americans."

Kerry says his military experience gives him unique credibility among Democrats to confront Bush.

Kerry dismisses polls showing him slipping in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination and says he's the Democrat with the credentials to emerge from the crowded field of nine aspirants and seize the party's nomination. Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean has grabbed a hefty 21-point lead over Kerry in the latest New Hampshire poll, a crucial state for the two New Englanders. Dean has built momentum with his anti-war, anti-Washington themes and successfully tapped the Internet for fund raising and supporters.

At the White House, spokesman Scott McClellan declined to respond to Kerry's criticism of Bush, saying, "I think I'll leave the politics to the Democrats in their primary. The president's continuing to focus on the people's business."

Tuesday's South Carolina backdrop is evidence of a battleground for the Palmetto State's first in the South primary.

North Carolina Senator John Edwards was the first to hit the airwaves, hoping to appeal to his Carolina roots.

Howard Dean came next with a name that's been topping national polls, and building a campaign warchest.

Candidates like Dick Gephardt have set up campaign offices in Columbia and are starting out with a more grassroots approach, but may not be dominating the South Carolina airwaves

It means talks at South Carolina churches for candidate Al Sharpton

Former vice presidential candidate Joe Lieberman continues to make gains with name recognition.

USC Professor Blease Graham says Kerry joins the list of candidates whose platform is pitted against President Bush's, "There is enough outrage among Democrats about a Republican incumbent president. That may do the trick in South Carolina."

The latest Zogby polls showed Lieberman up in South Carolina at 13%, followed by Gephardt and Sharpton tied at 8%, Edwards and Kerry tied at 5% each. Howard Dean had 4%.

Reported by Megan Hughes
Updated 7:21pm by BrettWitt with AP