Kerry faces allegation of affair with intern

By ANDREW BUNCOMBE in Washington


Democratic frontrunner John Kerry yesterday sought to dismiss claims that he had an affair with an intern – an allegation with the power to ruin his surging candidacy even as polls suggest he could beat President George Bush.


Asked directly about the allegations yesterday morning on a radio show, Mr Kerry, married to Theresa Heinz Kerry, heiress to the food empire, did not flatly deny them but said: "There is nothing to report, nothing to talk about. There's nothing there. There's no story."

Mr Kerry, who has won 12 of the 14 Democratic primaries and who has looked all but certain to win the party's nomination, told the veteran broadcaster Don Imus he was the victim of a dirty tricks campaign.

"We've seen evidence. We know exactly where these guys are gonna go, and I'm ready for it," he said.

"I've been at this for a while, Don, and I've been through some tough races. I've been pretty well, you know, vetted and examined from one side to the other. And I think that they're in for a surprise. I'm going to fight back. I am a fighter, and I'm ready to fight back."

The allegations first surfaced on Thursday evening on the right-wing internet site, the Drudge Report, most famous for breaking the news of Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky – a scandal that almost ended his presidency.

While many of the tips posted by the report's founder, Matt Drudge, turn out to be true, other claims prove to have little substance.

The website claimed that the young woman, an intern who had previously worked as a journalist for the Associated Press, had been pressured by Mr Kerry to leave the country when he feared news of their affair would emerge.

It said that retired general Wesley Clark had told reporters just days before he dropped out of the Democratic race, that "Kerry will implode over an intern issue".

Mr Clark, meanwhile, yesterday endorsed Mr Kerry, something interpreted by some Washington observers as an effort to try and repair any damage his off-the-record comments had done.

Reports yesterday identified the young woman as Alex Polier, 24, and said that she had fled to Kenya after being approached by a media organisation.

The Sun newspaper quoted Ms Polier's parents, Terry and Donna, from Malvern, Pennsylvania, as claiming Mr Kerry had pursued their daughter.

"I think he's a sleazeball. I did wonder if she didn't get that feeling herself," said Mr Polier. "He's not the sort of guy I'd choose to be with my daughter. John Kerry called my daughter and invited her to be on his re-election committee. She talked to him and decided against it."

Mr Polier's comments did not appear to fit exactly with the allegations made by Drudge who claimed that Mr Kerry and the young woman had a two year relationship, beginning in the Spring of 2001.

The Kerry campaign has refused to discuss the allegations and the Poliers were yesterday unavailable for comment.

Regardless of these latest allegations there is little doubt that this presidential campaign is going to be one of the most bitterly-contested of recent years with the capacity to turn into a dirty, no-holds-barred fight.

Republicans have already been publicising 30-year-old photographs of Mr Kerry sitting behind the actress and peace activist Jane Fonda at a rally and unearthing an interview the Vietnam veteran gave to a student newspaper in 1970 urging that US troops be put under the command of the UN.

Democrats meanwhile, are scouring through Mr Bush's National Guard records in an effort to prove allegations that he failed to show up for much of the time he was supposed to have been on duty in the early 70s.

The Republican Party chairman involved himself in some tit-for-tat, claiming that Democrats were preparing to run "the dirtiest campaign in modern presidential politics".

He added: "This is because they don't want a debate on the issues, and they don't want to run on Senator Kerry's record. I guess I can't blame them for that."

The latest allegations come at a particularly crucial time in Mr Kerry's campaign for the Democratic nomination – a contest that has swerved and shifted and seen one-time favourite Howard Dean all but written off.

Having surged ahead of his rivals for the nomination by winning convincingly in primaries across the country, new polls suggest the Massachusetts Senator would comfortably beat Mr Bush in a head-to-head contest.

The Washington Post-ABC poll gives Mr Kerry the support of 52 per cent of registered voters and Mr Bush 42.

The poll also shows that a majority of Americans now believe that Mr Bush either lied or deliberately exaggerated evidence that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction.


- INDEPENDENT