The Drudge Report is reporting that John F. Kerry, democrat presidential candidate flavor of the moment, allegedly had a recent affair with a young intern.  Yawn.  We know that democrats don’t mind dalliance, not from the JFK for the twentieth century, or Slick Willie in the room off the Oval Office, and probably won’t – if Wesley Clark’s off-the-record statement to twelve journalists turns out to be true – from the JFK for the new century.  What I’m wondering is how Teresa Heinz, she of the 600 million ketchup dollars, and not a little pride, will take it.  Will she euphemistically kill or maim him, if it turns out to be true?  Or will she mimic Hillary and simply take it, as a tradeoff for a future chance at the power of a co-presidency?   

Teresa Heinz, who now wants it pronounced Ter-rayz-uh, seemed none too happy a few months ago that her husband was going to run for president.  She made it clear that he was not going to use her money to make the run.  She couldn’t have been happy when he didn’t know how to eat a Philadelphia Cheese Steak, or what cheese to order with it, or with the unfortunate comparisons of his face to Lurch and Jay Leno.  And if body language is any indication, she often seems irritated or exasperated with him.    

But then there are the political causes Teresa loves.  As administrator of the billion dollar Heinz Foundation awards, her allegiances become clear.  She wants to change the world, but of course to suit her personal preferences.  Those right now are the usual liberal causes, particularly global warming.  Her Heinz Foundation 2001 award was to the originator of the global warming theory, and she expressed displeasure with the Bush administration for rejecting the Kyoto treaty.  It would seem that she expects John Kerry to go along with her environmental positions, since she has said his “world citizen” mentality attracted her to him.    

If the rumor is substantiated, would their relationship change?  Unlikely.  Teresa has lived with the knowledge that Kerry went from one heiress, to another.  She certainly is aware of his early penchant for touting his initials being the same as his idol’s John Fitzgerald Kennedy, and probably is not surprised that much of his behavior mimics John Kennedy and Bill Clinton.  She even made no waves when he mortgaged his half of their mansion, with its priceless art, to get money to breathe life back into his going-nowhere political campaign.  And of course no one is sure how much she did behind the scenes, over the last few years, to set up this run for the presidency. 

Teresa’s actual commitment to causes seems skin deep, or self-approbating.  Though certainly aware of what malaria can do, she puts her fortune toward liberal environmental causes that give her awards – not toward fighting for the resumption of DDT spraying which could stop malaria in its tracks.  She knows the devastation of AIDS and expresses angst about stopping it, but I have seen no evidence that she supports teaching abstinence – unlike condoms, absolutely the only sure way to stop AIDS.

Teresa Heinz seems to have a lot in common with Hillary Clinton.  She has an agenda, and she wants it fulfilled.  She doesn’t have the public political experience of Hillary Clinton, which will make it more difficult.  But my bet is that she will stay with Kerry – if he effects enough damage control over the next few days to ensure the possibility that he can still win the democrat nomination.  Teresa seems a less public version of Hillary in ambition, and will probably look to Hillary for inspiration in handling this situation.

Jan Ireland