DRUDGE: KERRY MYSTERY WOMAN DATED CAMPAIGN FINANCE CHIEF

2/16/2004 | Drudge

[mtrott]

Drudge just put this up.

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX FRI FEB 16, 2004 14:05:38 ET XXXXX

KERRY MYSTERY WOMAN DATED CAMPAIGN FINANCE CHIEF

**Exclusive**

A woman at the center of John Kerry intrigue dated longtime Kerry Finance Director Peter Maroney, sources tell the DRUDGE REPORT.

When pressed by media outlets in recent week, the Kerry campaign confirmed the relationship, according to top sources.

Alex Polier on Monday denied "Internet and tabloid rumors relating to me and Senator John Kerry."

Rumors swirling around Polier ignited a behind-the-scenes campaign drama.

As first reported in this space, a serious investigation of the woman and the nature of her relationship with Sen. John Kerry has been underway at TIME magazine, ABC NEWS, the WASHINGTON POST, THE HILL and the ASSOCIATED PRESS, where the woman in question once worked.

TIME magazine's Tim Burger and ABC NEWS have developed intriguing elements to the case, sources reveal.

She would joke that she was dating the next president of the United States, says a source.

Polier's flippant remarks and flirtatious manner, according to friends, fueled the intrigue.

In an off-the-record conversation with a dozen reporters earlier this week, General Wesley Clark plainly stated: "Kerry will implode over an intern issue." [Three reporters in attendance confirm Clark made the startling comments. "This guy is going to blow up. Have you seen the NATIONAL ENQUIRER story" [on Kerry's womanizing].

The Kerry commotion is the key reason why Dean reversed his decision to drop out of the race after Wisconsin, campaign sources said.

Developing...

[Bluntpoint]

Yeah! According to Hannity's review of Hannity's book, it is going to be dynamite!!!

[Hon]

More, from CBS:

"Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.: Robert Farmer, 64, Clinton's 1992 treasurer and a longtime Kerry financial backer, is running Kerry's fundraising operation.

Farmer, the openly gay Clinton administration ambassador to Bermuda who splits his time between Boston and Miami Beach, worked for John Glenn in ‘84, was Mike Dukakis' chief fundraiser in '88 and DNC treasurer after that.

Longtime Kerry fundraiser Peter Maroney, who used to work for former Rep. Joseph Kennedy, is working with Farmer. Maroney was finance director for Kerry's PAC from 1999 until the presidential campaign officially started. Of course, the big question persists: Could John Kerry's real money person be his wife, ketchup heiress Teresa Heinz Kerry?"

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/06/30/politics/printable561070.shtml

[OXENinFLA]

I think we need to find out 100% if she did or did not work for Kerry.

[lainie]

I just turned hannity on and immediately heard him say something about members of the media remaining balanced fair and objective. I think I'm gonna hurl.

[saquin]

Fox News is reporting that the parents never said that he was a sleezeball

The "sleazeball" comment was in the Sun, a British tabloid that is not nearly as reliable as the NY Post, and is best known for it's Page 3 pictures of topless models.

The father is also quoted, in the same article, as saying there was no affair between Kerry and his daughter. It's quite possible that the Sun reporters put words in his mouth by asking something like "What would you think of a 60 year old Senator having an affair with your daughter?" Answer: "I'd say he's a sleazeball. I wouldn't want my daughter to date someone like that."

I'm just saying we need to be careful. We all know how quotes can be twisted.

[lainie]

Yup.

[BlessedByLiberty]

Great observation. He trumped the media before and he's baiting them again.

[lonevoice]

The Kerry commotion is the key reason why Dean reversed his decision to drop out of the race after Wisconsin, campaign sources said.

Developing...

Developing what, Matt? This is just getting too strange. Clark's comment was about an intern. Polier was never an intern. Matt's original rumor was that Kerry had an affair with this mystery woman. Now Matt is saying she had an affair, not with Kerry, but with Maloney. Who cares? (Other than Mrs. Maloney, if there is one?)

Is this really Matt's idea of a big scoop? I don't get it.

[Bluntpoint]

I find the Sun's breasts to be highly reliable.

[optimistically_conservative]

http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/TheNote/TheNote_July8.html

Under the same byline and headline, savvy Note readers should like the turn Johnson takes in the eighth paragraph: "Dean's strategy session overlapped with a similar meeting last night and today on Nantucket that one of his rivals for the nomination, Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, held with more than a dozen top political advisers."

"'It's really nothing,' Kerry said yesterday after he and his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, returned from a post-lunch walk to their home overlooking the entrance to Nantucket Harbor. 'This is just the first chance I've had to get everyone together and talk about where we are, where we're going.'"

So, who was there? … ."Among those attending the session were Kerry campaign manager Jim Jordan, chief fund-raiser Peter Maroney, scheduler Karen Hinck, communications director Chris Lehane, media consultants Jim Margolis and Michael Donilon, Boston political consultants Chuck Campion, John Marttila, and Michael Whouley, and Cameron Kerry, a Boston lawyer who is the senator's brother."

It's always nice to see Whouley's name in the paper.

[saquin]

If she went to Kenya in Oct, why the heck is she still there? How did she do the ABC interview in Dec?

Why shouldn't she still be there? Is there a time limit on how long someone can visit a country? And how do we know she did an ABC interview in December? Has that been confirmed?

Look, I'm not trying to go out of my way to discount the possibility that she had an affair with Kerry. But with a denial from Kerry and a denial from her, I think we need to be wary of being led down a false path in the absence of real evidence. It will do us no good. It will only innoculate Kerry against any future charges.

[Hon]

"Clark's comment was about an intern. Polier was never an intern."

I have to say I'm getting tired of people saying this. Clark said that Kerry had an "intern problem." Don't you see what that means? It's a Clinton reference. It doesn't mean she was an intern.

[jackbill]

If the chick were really only seeing the finance guy, then Kerry on Imus would have said "Naw, there's nothing to those rumors. I think they are talking about a girl who dated one of my campaign staff..." and left it at that.

Kerry told Imus "Nothing to report", meaning that he hadn't yet been able to talk any of his staff into taking the fall.

[hoosiermama]

Maybe it has nothing to do with a sexual relationships, but with inside information about the campaign.

Wasn't there a comment about it going to be really nasty or something not expected or weird? Wouldn't think those adjectives would describe an affair. OTOH!

[cyborg]

No one who is a human being can be fair and balanced. This is like O'Reilly saying 'no spin zone'.... BAAAAAARRRRFFFFF

[lainie]

agreed.. on both counts

[saquin]

Maybe Kerry didn't feel it was his place to discuss the love life of his campaign staffer and felt his only obligation was to answer questions about his own relationship, or lack of one, with her?

[my right]

Come on folks, you know this rumor was put out by Kerry so it would start a underground media storm and then he would come out clean via denials of accoused. Now who looks bad? Why of course those dirty repubs that was really behind this to start with. Lot of publicity, hero comes out clean, bad guys get caught being dirty. Can't lose, can you?

[Diogenesis]

She was "never-an-intern" -- or an intern in the picture. Stay tuned.

[saquin]

Sorry, my last comment should have been to Yaelle, who was quoted in your comment.