Teresa Heinz Kerry

Mrs. Teresa Heinz Kerry is a delightful, intelligent lady and a great asset to her husband.

She is not only unusually candid but, common sense flows from her lips whenever she adds her views to a given issue.

Furthermore, her "devil made me do it," playful attitude adds to her charm and the fact that she speaks several languages fluently completes the picture of a great potential first lady.


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/12/politics/campaign/12kerry.html

New York Times - June 12, 2004

Kerrys Call Questions About Wealth Hypocritical by Jodi Wilgoren

BOSTON, July 11 - Turning one of the Republicans' main lines of attack back in their faces, Senator John Kerry and his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, suggested on Sunday that it was hypocritical for their opponents to raise questions about their wealth and that of Mr. Kerry's running mate, Senator John Edwards.

"Those very same people never criticized my late husband for his money or his wealth - in fact, they used it," said Mrs. Heinz Kerry, who inherited an estate estimated at $500 million to $1 billion from her first husband, Senator H. John Heinz III, a Pennsylvania Republican who was killed in a plane crash. "His money was just dandy."

In an interview broadcast on Sunday on the CBS News program "60 Minutes," Mrs. Heinz Kerry added, "I find it un-American for people to criticize someone and say they're not deserved for any position, whether because they have too much or too little or because they're black or they're white."

Mr. Kerry, the presumed Democratic presidential nominee, called criticism of the candidates' multimillion-dollar bank accounts "the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard in my life."

He asked: "Is this coming from millionaire George Bush and millionaire Dick Cheney? And millionaire Rumsfeld?"

In the interview, Mr. Edwards's wife, Elizabeth, pointed out that the Democratic candidates "voted against tax cuts that would have benefited them" - tax cuts proposed by the Republicans.

"Isn't that what we want - a leader who looks at the greater good instead of simply what benefits the person himself?" she asked Lesley Stahl, the "60 Minutes" interviewer, in a 20-minute segment.

"It seems to me that's an enormous test of character,'' Mrs. Edwards said, "whether you're willing to step out and do something against your own self-interest."

The two men rushed to erase any sense of animosity between them, denying Ms. Stahl's suggestion that they had attacked each other or had "bad blood" while competing for the Democratic nomination.

Asked about concerns that Mr. Edwards's youth, energy and good looks might upstage him, Mr. Kerry shrugged, "I hope he does."

As for whether Mr. Edwards was a better campaigner, Mr. Kerry replied: "No. I think I'm pretty darn good."<<