Singer: So when we're talking about it, say, in the context of 2008, because it's certainly a broader problem than that, but in the context of 2008, I know the environment is something that you're very passionate about, Vice President Gore is very passionate about, but for neither of you [was it] a central tenet of your campaign or at least not something that you were able to speak to I'd imagine as much as you'd like to. Do you think that it's something that should be the issue for a candidate?

Kerry: One of the... Look, you've got to talk about national security in terms of terrorism, obviously, and you've got to deal with everybody wants to know, can I educate my kid? Can I get healthcare? Will I have a job? Those are real issues also, and you have to deal with them.

But the bottom line is that this connects all of them. This is linked to all of them. And I'd take issue with one thing. We really did talk about this a lot. There isn't one state I went to where we didn't have major environmental events. In Texas on Earth Day I went down and talked about energy independency and climate change. In California we did farming practices, we did offshore drilling. In Oregon we did Columbia River cleanup, we did wind power. In Minnesota we did wind power. In Iowa we did hog farms and nitrate overload and farm practices. In West Virginia we did clean coal technology. You name the issue on the environment and we were talking about it. There wasn't one stump speech I gave, not one - not here in Pioneer Square, not on the riverfront - not one stump speech I gave that I didn't talk about the environment, about energy independence and the choices we needed to make in terms of America's security as environment. So we did talk about it.

Singer: Do you see a bias within the media of not covering it?

Kerry: Yeah I do. Absolutely. I think the media goes ho hum and yawned, at least until recently. And also the overwhelming issue of that election was 9/11, Osama bin Laden, the war on terror. They made sure they kept people scared by doing red alerts and orange alerts. How many alerts have we had since the election?

[I shake my head]

Kerry (cont.): That's your answer. That's where the environment went and every other issue.

Singer: Speaking about national security issues, specifically the issue of Iraq, what do you see going forward in terms of Senate action, Congressional action with Iraq. Senator Obama seemed to indicate in an Associated Press interview that he felt that the Senate would fund the war no matter what.

Kerry: No, I'm against funding the war no matter what. And today I've joined up with Senator Harry Reid and Senator Feingold. The only thing we should fund is to complete the training of the troops, to prosecute against Al Qaeda and to protect American forces and facilities and interests in the region.

We should not be engaged in Civil War in Iraq. And I would vote a year from now, which is the date we said we should be redeploying our troops, we ought to be cutting off those other activities.

Singer: In terms of Iran the administration seems to be ramping up pressure instead of taking the engagement route. What can you do and what will you do in the Senate to try to ensure that we don't go to war with Iran?

Kerry: First of all, I think the administration would be hard pressed to go to war with Iran right now, both physically and politically. Physically, because we're overstretched in Iraq and everybody knows it. And I think you'd have the generals and a whole bunch of people be unbelievably reluctant to just sort of pick some willy nilly fight with Iran right now. That's different if they should do something to provoke it. It's different if they do something aggressive and proactive. You have to respond and do what you have to do. But right now this administration needs to deal diplomatically more intelligently and rebuild its credibility so the world understands what the stakes are. And I will do everything in my power to make sure they don't run off half cocked and leverage some kind of a confrontation that's inappropriate.

Singer: Specifically the House Democratic leadership removed language that would that would say that the President has to come back to Congress. Would you like to see such language...

Kerry: No. Look, there's a constitutional balance here. The President knows the limits of the War Powers Act. The President has the authority to defend the nation. He's the commander in chief. If there's a legitimate reason for the President to do something, he doesn't have to come back to Congress to do an immediate emergency response. On the other hand if the President thinks he's going to walk up to it like he did with Iraq, he's got to think again, because there's no way the Congress is going to let that happen.

Singer: Just a couple quick more questions if we have the time. The first is on the prosecutor purge story we see evidence, seemingly, of the politicization of the U.S. Attorneys offices. I know you haven't kind of been on the lead on the issue, but I was wondering if I could solicit your opinion on it.

Kerry: I've said within days that Attorney General Gonzales has lost all credibility. He should resign. He should be gone. And this administration's stubborn support for things that are egregious is shocking to me. He does not have the confidence of the Congress or the American people.

And they've allowed the Justice Department to become politicized in inappropriate ways. It is not enough to say those are political jobs. They're political appointments - they're not political jobs. Yes you have a right to make the appointment. You don't have a right to interfere with the course of justice. And clearly the White House knew a lot more than it's led on. It's a terrible distortion of the balance of the justice system's separateness, if you will, and the respect we ought to have for it.

Singer: Final question. If there's one message that you'd like to send to the blogosphere, be it on the environment or Iraq or any other issue in between, what would that message be?

Kerry: Keep on holding Washington accountable. Keep on being truth tellers. Keep on asking the tough questions. And keep on doing what the grassroots needs to do, which is reclaim real authority for the truth in America. I think the blogosphere has helped mainstream media think twice, and it's certainly helping to keep our colleagues on their toes and thoughtful about who's accountable to whom.

So I think it's been a very important development, one that I welcome because I think is what really in the end defines our democracy and our country.

[THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.]