"The campaign missed an opportunity to touch on the aspirations and hopes of Americans for their political system," he said. "It was absent of poetry, history, what campaigning should be about."

From campaign finance reform, to child poverty, to pollution emission standards, the senator engaged in a conversational and, he said, mainly unscripted profession of his policy goals and ideas.

"People didn't get a sense of the candidates," Kerry said. "They weren't sure if Bush was ready or who Gore was. Those concerns gave people ambivalence."

He also expressed concern at the way that America's impatience with the election process reflected on its image on the international stage, exhorting the American public to resist pollsters' insinuations that Gore is perceived as "testing the patience of the electorate."

He also voiced reluctance to blame Green Party candidate Ralph Nader for stealing the election from Gore, saying that he has great affinity for Nader's perceptions. At the same time, he said that it was disingenuous of Nader to portray the election as a Tweedledum-Tweedledee choice.

"Americans who care about the Supreme Court, who care about a woman's right to choose, know that this election has real consequences," Kerry said.

Kerry also expressed concern at the state of foreign affairs.