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From the NYTimes article "Clark Comes Aboard Kerry Campaign" by Sheryl Gay Stolberg: Earlier in the day, Mr. Kerry proclaimed himself a "fighter" in an interview with Don Imus, the radio talk show host. Asked why Mr. Bush's National Guard service during the Vietnam era as well as the senator's own history as a decorated Vietnam veteran who became a war protester were an issue, Mr. Kerry said, "It seems to be the war that won't ever go away," and called it "the pivotal event of our generation." He said of his decision to oppose the Vietnam War, "Look, I...

<p>Early Friday morning, radio personality Don Imus went public with the question that newsrooms across the country were wrestling with.</p> <p>As an Internet-fueled rumor about John Kerry gained steam, Imus wondered aloud: "Do you think I should ask him?"</p> <p>"We've chosen not to report it," CNN's Lou Dobbs told the New York radio host on the air. "I'm not interested in the story."</p>

"This is more excitement than we're ever used to having," she said. Calabrese was scanning the crowd of 20 or so media members that had gathered on Madeline Drive outside the home of her neighbors. Local print and television media, a CNN camera crew, an NBC crew, a New York Times reporter and two reporters that are employed by an agency that works for The (London) Sun had staked out the house. Calabrese seemed more fascinated with the media attention than with the possibility that the family's daughter reportedly had a relationship with Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. "The story...

Top Republican and Democrat strategists are curious about Sen. John Kerry's choice of words to radio mega-host Don Imus concerning rumors burning up the Internet and newsrooms about a possible extramarital affair with a young woman. Painfully similar to former President Bill Clinton's careful parsing of words, Kerry told Imus in a morning interview yesterday the following when asked about an item first revealed in print by Internet guru Matt Drudge: "Well, there is nothing to report," Kerry told Imus. "So there is nothing to talk about. I'm not worried about it. No." The failure to issue a flat-out denial...

<p>"Well, there is nothing to report," Kerry told the talk radio show Imus in the Morning. "So there is nothing to talk about. I'm not worried about it. No."</p> <p>The story, widely covered by U.S. and British media Friday, was based on a report on the Internet tabloid site DrudgeReport.com, run by Matt Drudge. Drudge's report alleged Kerry had been seeing a former Associated Press employee who has left the country at his behest.</p>

DEMOCRATIC presidential frontrunner Senator John Kerry today vowed to hit back at any dirty tricks ahead of the US election as he was asked in public for the first time about an alleged affair. An internet gossip site today reported a past relationship with a young woman, but none of the mainstream US media touched the story. When asked about the report on MSNBC television, the Massachusetts senator and Vietnam war hero said he knew about the allegations, but he shrugged off any hint of controversy. "People are talking about it," said presenter Don Imus. Kerry replied: "Well, there is...

According to news reports across the Internet and in various international publications, Democratic Presidential front-runner John Kerry may have had an extramarital affair with a 22-year old blonde intern. As first reported by the Drudge Report on Thursday, a full-scale investigation into this is underway at Time Magazine, ABC News, the Washington Post, the Hill, and the Associated Press. But the real story today may be the lack of coverage by the major American news media. According to a story published today in MensNewsDaily.com, "A source at one of the major television networks (said) that they are specifically forbidden to...

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John F. Kerry (D-MA) has allegedly been involved in a two-year extramarital affair with an intern beginning in Spring 2001, according to The Drudge Report on Thursday. Drudge said a full-scale investigation into this is underway at Time Magazine, ABC News, the Washington Post, the Hill, and the Associated Press. "There is no lawsuit testimony this time [like former President Bill Clinton with Paula Jones]," a top source told Drudge Thursday night. "It is hard to prove." When asked about the investigation on Thursday, Jack Stokes, a spokesman for the AP, told the Editor & Publisher,...

Once upon a time there was a wicked vizier who was jealous of the sultan's power and sought the throne for himself. He did everything he could to undermine the sultan's authority by making him seem to be a weak and ineffectual leader. The vizier arranged for the sultan's fastest runner to be cut off at the knees, then screamed at the runner for failing to win a 24-mile race. He hung an anchor around the neck of the sultan's best swimmer, then protested that it was "an outrage" when the swimmer failed to beat swimmers from other nations across...

<p>A medical examiner's report on the death of diet guru Dr. Robert Atkins suggests that he had a history of heart attack, congestive heart failure and hypertension.</p> <p>The document, a report of external examination from the chief medical examiner's office in New York, also says that at his death Dr. Atkins weighed 258 pounds. Dr. Atkins died in April last year at age 72 of a head injury from a fall on ice while walking to work. The report attributes the death to a "blunt impact injury of head." The report was sent to The Wall Street Journal by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a group that advocates a vegetarian diet and has long been critical of the Atkins approach.</p>

The nearly 165,000 people around the world who lost money to former PTL televangelist Jim Bakker will soon get some money back: $6.54 each. The deal approved by a judge Friday ends a 15-year battle in criminal and civil courts that dethroned the flamboyant preacher, defamed his television ministry and left hundreds of victims going to their graves without compensation. U.S. District Court Judge Lacy Thornburg of North Carolina's Western District gave a Charlotte law firm 30 days to hand out the money to those who sued Bakker in civil court after he was found guilty in 1989 of wire...

Bush is a shameless charlatan, says Pyongyang By Sang-Hun Choe in Seoul 31 January 2003 North Korea called George Bush a "shameless charlatan" and his State of the Union address an "undisguised declaration of aggression" yesterday. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said the North would never allow the US to "wantonly encroach upon its sovereignty and dignity". Mr Bush had described North Korea's government as an "oppressive regime" that "rules a people living in fear and starvation". Relations with Washington have deteriorated since October when American officials said North Korea had admitted having a nuclear programme in violation of a 1994...

Jesse Jackson biographer Kenneth R. Timmerman said Tuesday night that there's "a strong possibility" the celebrated civil rights leader could soon find himself under indictment for illegally funneling tax-exempt money into Democratic Party political campaigns. "Jesse Jackson has been using nonprofit dollars for political campaigns, especially during campaign 2000 and campaign 1996. That's just flatly illegal," Timmerman told Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly. When asked whether the financial wrongdoing could lead to a Jackson indictment, Timmerman contended, "I think there's a strong possibility. The evidence is against him." Timmerman's book, "Shakedown: Exposing the Real Jesse Jackson," is the first investigative...