Kerry is smart, genuinely civic-minded, and experienced in governing. He was my Senator for years in Massachusetts; I've seen him operate and I'm comfortable with putting the country in his hands. The next President will inherit a very nasty mess, and a smart and nuanced thinker seems to me a much better choice than the current Howdy Doody doll.

I also had him for a Senator in Taxachusetts, and also as Lt, Governor under Michael Dukakis (Remember him?), one of the the absolute worst governors the state had. The only good point of his governorship was that it didn't send him to the Presidency.
As a Senator, Kerry has looked for more and more ways to take money from people that are earning it (notice he never tries to get a tax on inheirited wealth?), and give it to people that are not earning it. Just because someone else exists does NOT constitute a requirement on my part to take care of them.