One theme of the Kerry campaign that staying pretty low beneath the media radar is the extent to which the Kerry campaign is advocating internationalism. For all the rhetoric from about the New World Order and the Trilateral Commission, some of the quotes coming from the Kerry camp are down right scary from a sovereignty perspective.

On nuclear waste Kerry, in pandering to Nevada voters, signals that we need help to solve our own nuclear waste issues.

Kerry said the studies have convinced him that a nuclear waste repository is not safe.

To address the problem of waste stored at sites throughout the country, Kerry said he would convene a "blue-ribbon" panel of international experts with the goal of discovering a way to destroy or use up the waste.

"I'm convinced we can come out of this with a much stronger counter-terrorism, counter-proliferation, pro-environment solution and that is what I intend to do," Kerry said.

The Kerry campaign's national security adviser, Rand Beers, also suggested a new administration would soften Washington's stance on the International Criminal Court. The Bush administration has opposed the court and worked vigorously to exempt U.S. nationals from prosecution, causing some friction among allies.

Beers said in response to a question at the panel that the Kerry campaign has not taken a position on the court but would consider some adjustment in policy related to it: "I think we would look very seriously about removing the requirement for assistance, U.S. assistance, to require other countries to sign a pledge not to prosecute U.S. citizens in an International Criminal Court."

The United States in the past two years has signed a series of bilateral agreements with states that are signatories to the ICC to ensure U.S. personnel abroad will not be tried before the court.

It's true that Kerry doesn't support the Kyoto Protocol in its present form. Instead, he has said that he wants to renegotiate the agreement so it will hold developing nations, as well as industrialized nations, accountable for their carbon dioxide emissions.

But Kerry's no casual Kyoto detractor -- he has attended a number of Kyoto conferences over the years and tried to push negotiations forward, and he has a long record of consistently voting in favor of policy measures to curb global warming, from stricter CAFE standards to mandatory greenhouse-gas regulations.

In part for this reason, a number of national environmental groups are pouring more resources into this presidential race than any previous contest in history.

One thing is for sure, from reading between the lines it's a sure bet that all these "internationalist" ideas would be on the Kerry agenda if elected.