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Kerry has sponsored and supported a number of health care bills, as well. Most notably, he co-authored the recent Nurse Reinvestment Act, a combination of scholarships, loans, and grants designed to create more nursing faculty, send nurses to underserved areas, and support career-enhancing education for nurses.

Rep. Lois Capps, RN, a Democrat from California, sponsored the legislation in the House. A nurse for more than 40 years, Capps said Kerry recognizes the important role nurses play in the country’s health care system.

“On issues such as increasing access to health care, truly modernizing Medicare, and protecting the overtime pay of nurses and health care providers, John Kerry will demonstrate the same leadership as president he displayed as a senator while working to pass the Nurse Reinvestment Act,” she says.

The Bush administration has proposed spending almost $147 million in 2005 on the act, an overall increase of $5 million from last year; the ANA believes $205 million is needed to adequately support the effort.

Kerry cosponsored the Safe Nursing and Patient Care Act of 2003, which seeks to limit mandatory overtime for nurses, helped pass needlestick safety legislation, and has voiced support for nurse-determined rules about safe staffing levels.

Kerry supported legislation in 1997 that expanded reimbursement opportunities for advanced practice RNs by eliminating geographical and practice site restrictions, and he voiced support for any ANA-sponsored legislation that would allow APRNs to practice more fully.

Megan Hauck, deputy policy director for the Bush-Cheney 2004 re-election campaign, said the president has not taken a position on mandatory overtime or staffing ratio legislation, but that his policies support nurses.

Ultimately, Hauck said, the Bush administration has shown a commitment to helping the nation’s nurses through its policies and funding of the Nurse Reinvestment Act.

“We’re trying to invest as much federal money as we can to give nurses incentives to go into the profession and stay in the profession,” she says.

The American Nurses Association, which endorses a candidate for president based on an examination of voting records, future proposals, interviews, accessibility, and the results of a nonscientific poll of members, chose Kerry as the top pick for president back in February before he was even the clear Democratic nominee.

“Senator Kerry was the leader because of his position on our issues, the virtual vote, and his performance on the campaign trail,” Murphy says.

Early ANA support for Kerry may bode well for the organization should he be elected, says Mary Foley, RN, MS, vice chair of the ANA-PAC. “Being an early friend is a good thing,” she says.

Nurses are gaining more political clout with both parties as their donations to the ANA’s political action committee flow to candidates, says Greer Glazer, RN, PhD, CNP, FAAN, the committee’s chair.

She attended the Democratic National Convention, where she connected with delegates, politicians, and lobbyists over issues concerning nurses.

Glazer talked to attendees from a nurse’s viewpoint about the profession and health care, and she looked into collaboration opportunities for the ANA. She was told that people think of nurses as the linchpin of the health care system and that the profession doesn’t get the credit or place at the table it deserves.

“We had great access because of everybody’s generosity,” she says. “This is how we can make a difference.”