Kerry slam of Agriculture Dept. surfaces

From the Des Moines Register

Reports surfaced Friday that Kerry once said the U.S. Agriculture Department should be abolished or scaled back to help "reduce the size of Washington."

"Get rid of the Agriculture Department, or at least render it three-quarters the size it is today," the Democratic presidential candidate said in a story published in the Worcester (Mass.) Telegram & Gazette in 1996.

How much will this hurt Kerry in Iowa? The timing and substance of this statement looks bad for Kerry. However, the statement is from 1996, so he may be able to point to his more recent record.