Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry is having a dickens of a time shedding his image as a Northeastern liberal from Massachusetts.

It haunts him everywhere he travels in South Carolina, site of the first-in-the-South Democratic primary on Feb. 3.

"The word Massachusetts keeps creeping into the conversation," said College of Charleston professor Bill Moore. "Massachusetts and liberalism are identified as one and the same."

S.C. voters, more conservative than the Democratic electorate nationwide, see Kerry as a wealthy Northeastern politician.

"That's all they know," said Winthrop University political scientist Scott Huffmon.

Consequently, his message of hope and opportunity gets lost in the process.

"His image trumps his message," Huffmon said.

Aware of the problem, Kerry made little mention of his home state as he formally launched his campaign for the Democratic nomination Tuesday in South Carolina. Selection of the state to kick off his campaign was no accident, campaign operatives say.

Kerry needs to change his image and let folks here know he is on their wavelength, Huffmon says. And one way to do that is for the senator to distance himself from the "Massachusetts liberal" label -- a moniker that doomed the presidential bid of another Bay State Democrat, former Gov. Michael Dukakis.

"The interesting thing is, South Carolina would probably be more receptive to Kerry's message if it came from another person," Huffmon said.

Kerry didn't help himself earlier this year when he told a California audience the Democrats could win without the South. He since has backed away from that. He now says he can win Louisiana, Georgia and perhaps Alabama.

In an effort to change his image, Kerry chose Mt. Pleasant for his formal announcement, launching his campaign with the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown as a backdrop. He focused on his record as a decorated Navy veteran who served in Vietnam. Joining him on the platform were members of the boat crews he commanded while in Vietnam.

The purpose was to focus on Kerry's war hero credentials to give him credibility to serve as commander-in-chief.

"At times in the term of the next president, we may well have to use force to fight terrorists," Kerry said last week. "But if I am president, the United States will never go to war because we want to. We will only go to war because we have to."

Francis Marion University political analyst Neal Thigpen, a Republican activist, suggests it is somewhat unfair to tar and feather Kerry as a flaming liberal from Massachusetts. If you analyze the senator's entire voting record, you would find him to be "moderately liberal."

"Just being from Massachusetts is a big problem," Thigpen said. "Somehow, he needs to remove the curse of being from the commonwealth. He is a very respectable candidate."

The latest Zogby International poll of likely S.C. primary voters shows the race has not yet caught fire here. Four candidates are in a virtual tie for the lead: Kerry, U.S. Sens. John Edwards of North Carolina and Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean.

Forty-six percent of voters, however, remain undecided.

The survey of 501 likely voters was taken Sept. 2-3, the day of Kerry's announcement and the next day.

"No candidate has the edge," according to the Zogby poll. "And it looks like South Carolina will be shaped by Iowa and New Hampshire."

Kerry needs a win in South Carolina. It would help him shed some of his Massachusetts liberal baggage and show he has traction outside New England.

But it's a fine line he must walk: If he goes too far to the right to court the South, he could fall ever further behind Dean in the more left-leaning Democratic battlegrounds of Iowa and New Hampshire.