Earlier today, John Kerry told an audience in Minneapolis that he could carry the military vote in November, despite conventional wisdom:

"You'd be amazed at the number of active duty personnel who are coming up at events around the country, greeting me in ropelines or coming to rallies and telling me how important it is for us to stand up and fight for those who are not able to speak out for themselves right now for obvious reasons," Kerry said.

The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee added: "But the numbers of active duty people quietly coming and saying we need a change, we need to build a modern military, we need to do the things necessary to protect our troops, we need to have all our allies on the ground in Iraq ... that's what this race is about."

I'm not qualified to comment on this (like that's ever stopped me) -- I'm not in the military. However, I have a lot of readers who are either in the military or are veterans. I'd like to hear whether you men and women believe that Kerry has a chance of winning a majority of military votes in November. Tell me why he can or can't, in your estimation. You're the experts -- I turn it over to you! Be as lengthy as you like; the debate is wide open.

UPDATE: CBS says Kerry has his work cut out for him:

In the 2004 campaign, President Bush is touting his record as Commander-in-Chief in the war on terror, while decorated Vietnam veteran John Kerry has often stood with his "band of brothers" in his ads and appearances. So far, that battle for veterans' votes is going to Bush: the President leads by a wide margin among veterans nationwide, 54% to 40%.

They also poll on the hoary canard of a Kerry-McCain ticket.

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Tracked on June 5, 2004 6:10 AM