Teresa Kerry ignores tradition to warn of hell under Bush

1.00pm - By RUPERT CORNWELL in Washington


Opinions polls differ over how much "bounce" Democratic candidate John Kerry has obtained from his convention last week.

There is no argument, however, about the different kind of bounce his wife Teresa Heinz Kerry is providing to his campaign.

Breaking yet again with the unwritten protocol that actual and potential Presidential spouses play a mostly decorative role on the hustings, Ms Kerry made no bones about what she thought of President George Bush and his intelligence, as she introduced her husband at a rally in the swing state of Wisconsin.

"They want four more years of hell," she replied as a Bush-supporting heckler in the crowd at a park in Milwaukee interrupted her with the traditional incumbent's refrain of "four more years".

Mrs Kerry then gave a time frame of her own. "Three more months," she declared, referring to the 2 November election date. A few moments later, she was even more outspoken, addressing the situation in Iraq and the Bush administration's refusal to admit even the smallest mistake in the conduct of the war, and seemingly casting aspersions on the President's intellect.

"It's vital for anyone with intelligence to acknowledge mistakes and change positions - hello," she said.

Ms Kerry's typically forthright language only underlines how she has become a loose cannon in the campaign, appealing to many women and independent minded voters with her frankness, but offering the Republicans bountiful ammunition to use, if they believe it will have an impact on the race for the White House.

Even geography underlines how little there is to choose between the two candidates.

If schedules hold, Mr Bush and Mr Kerry will be campaigning today just three blocks apart in Davenport, Iowa, a state narrowly carried by Al Gore in 2000, but which the Republicans hope to capture this time.

The signs are that in an unusually polarised electorate, most voters have already made up their minds, and that the outcome may be decided less by a small pool of undecided voters in the centre, but by the ability of the two parties to get their supporters to the polls.

Despite what was generally considered a successful gathering in Boston last week, capped by his powerful acceptance speech, Mr Kerry has failed to secure a candidate's usual convention boost - at least so far.

Polls in Newsweek, and by ABC/The Washington Post suggest that the Democratic ticket gained two or three points, to lead Mr Bush and Dick Cheney, the Vice-President, by 49-43 and 48-44 per cent respectively.

But a CNN/Gallup poll at the weekend found that Mr Kerry had actually slipped by 1 per cent during the week of the Democratic Convention. The survey was dismissed by the Kerry campaign as "an aberration".

But Republicans argued that it showed the limits of Mr Kerry's appeal, and boasted their man would do much better when the Republicans hold their own convention in New York in four weeks' time.

John Kerry says he can "put a deal together" as president to reduce US troop strength in Iraq. Mr Kerry suggests that he has received assurances from foreign leaders that they would do more to help if he were president and not Mr Bush.

"There is a potential to be able to put a deal together over the course of time," Kerry told The Associated Press in his first interview as the Democratic nominee.

"At least, that is the perception that smart people like Joe Biden and Carl Levin and other leaders who've been there for a long time have."

He said Democratic senators, reporting on their foreign travels, have told him:

"A change in the presidency is essential to our ability to restore our respect and relationship."

But when asked for hard evidence that his victory would produce a troops-reducing deal for America, neither Kerry nor his fellow senators cite anything other than their vague perceptions and utmost hopes.

- INDEPENDENT