LEWISTON – As one of the key campaigners for friend John Kerry, U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy was told by Kerry that on the final day of the campaign, he could go wherever he wanted.

“I said, There’s one place I want to go. Lewiston, Maine. That’s why Vicki and I are here, to be with you. We love you in Lewiston.'”

“All of you understand the reason why, because of the extraordinary association between the people of Lewiston and the incredible reception you gave the president in his last stop of the 1960 campaign,” Kennedy said Monday at a Kerry rally at the Franco-American Heritage Center, attended by about 150 people.

Before John F. Kennedy went home to Massachusetts the night before he was elected, it had been a long, hard day. He was late for his scheduled stop in Lewiston. People here stood in the cold for hours. When he finally arrived just before midnight, “I don’t think he got a finer reception anyplace,” Kennedy recalled.

As now, the 1960 race was close. There was doubt Kennedy could win. Lewiston’s overwhelming reception was so uplifting to JFK, “it was the time he really believed he was going to win,” his brother said Monday. “He said then, Maine is a very independent state with independent judgment and independent-minded people.'” He reasoned that if he got that kind of response in Maine, he believed the next day he would carry the election, Kennedy said. “That’s what Lewiston represented. … Every member of our family remembers that. The association between our family and the community is deep and continuing.”

With Maine’s help, John Kerry will be elected president, Kennedy said.

Some in the audience, including Roland Hachey and Doris Beaudoin of Lewiston, were there as kids when John Kennedy visited. Seeing his brother Monday was special, they said.

Edward Kennedy, 72, was elected to finish his brother’s Senate term in 1962, and has been re-elected seven times, making him the second most senior Senate member.

Through the years, Kennedy has been involved in several presidential campaigns: in 1960 for JFK, in 1968 for his brother Robert, and in 1980 he himself was a presidential candidate. None of those elections are as important as today’s, he said.

Democrats have been able to work with many Republicans, but the Bush administration is out “to destroy” those who disagree, Kennedy said.

“We’re not even talking about changing our foreign policy and bringing American men and women home from Iraq,” Kennedy said. “We’re talking about changing our economy that’s going to mean new hope for workers, middle-class families, for the future of people in Maine.”

Reading from Bob Woodward’s book “Bush at War,” Kennedy quoted President Bush as saying: “I am the commander. See, I don’t need to explain why I say things. That’s the interesting thing about being president. Maybe somebody needs to explain to me why they say something, but I don’t feel like I owe anybody an explanation.”

“Talk about arrogance,” Kennedy said. “Well, we’re not going to owe you an explanation after tomorrow, Mr. President.”

Followers cheered loudly.