Getting To Know Teresa Heinz Kerry

By Bonney Kapp,
CBS News Campaign Unit

Despite the mix of Secret Service agents and television cameras – distractions for 5-year-olds and adults alike – Mrs. Kerry won over her small audience when she asked the children what kind of animal they would chose to be.

"You think I'm a monkey? I sometimes think I'm a monkey too," she said with a smile when a child paid her the ultimate compliment. You see, there were six other monkeys in the group – the clear favorite. The well-coiffed millionaire, who wore Jackie O-style sunglasses while reading the children's book, appeared tickled by the description.

"I don't know if I want to be a monkey, though ... I'd like to be a dog," she said, delighting reporters in attendance and giving the Associated Press the opening line for its report, carried in newspapers across the country.

As she was leaving, Mrs. Kerry threw out another curve ball as she embraced the daycare center's director and promised to bring her husband back to visit the children. "You know what? They'll all climb on his knees and they'll call him 'daddy.' That's what happens every time. Is that fun? Daddy, daddy," she exclaimed as the press packed up their equipment.

Mrs. Kerry has been called a reporter's dream, thanks in part to her candid and often colorful remarks that can raise eyebrows and generate a flurry of press activity.

At a routine Q&A event with workers from a New York healthcare union, Mrs. Kerry caused one such stir when responding to a voter's question about drug abuse among schoolchildren. "I used to say, you know, you do some drugs and you come and tell me. I want to know what it was like. You do cocaine and I'll kill you," she said, referring to the advice she gave her sons when they were coming of age.

The audience chuckled and there were no discernable grimaces on the faces of Mrs. Kerry's aides. The senator's wife continued, "One of them did tell me that he did try mushrooms or something. He didn't like it because it frightened him." (The Heinz sons were not contacted to confirm or deny their mother's accusations.)

Popular with Kerry staffers (one former adviser recently referred to Mrs. Kerry as one of his "favorite people" on the campaign), she is anything but the traditional political wife. She is not scripted, she is not demure and she is not typical. She speaks in a stream of consciousness that exudes a certain thoughtfulness and sincerity, which can transcend demographic and cultural boundaries when it doesn't meander off into dead-end chatter. "I don't want to go on and on," she said Tuesday when she took her audience on a long-winded tangent.

It's that earnestness which allows the international philanthropist to relate to voters whose net worth may not rival Mrs. Kerry's estimated $550 million. "You're giving up time, which is precious, and I understand that. Time is the one thing you can't make more of. I just hope that it's not going to be so hard all the time," she said to a voter who lamented about her long commute due to exorbitant New York City rents. The room collectively nodded in agreement.

"Teresa never gives the same speech twice," explained her spokesperson, Christine Anderson, maintaining that Mrs. Kerry is neither coached nor counseled on the style and content of her events. "She's just learned from being out there on the road making speeches," Anderson added.

Of course there is a risk that Middle America will not appreciate the less predictable Kerry. A recent Fox News poll showed voters prefer a First Lady Bush to a First Lady Kerry two to one, a margin not reflecting their husbands' match-up. Advantage Bush.

But most Democrats believe that as Mrs. Kerry gets more exposure she will help the campaign by diffusing her husband's standoffish reputation. "Unless she says or does something truly outrageous – which she almost certainly will not – Teresa will do more good than harm if she occasionally strays from the script and gives people a sense of who both Kerrys are," said Democratic strategist Matt Bennett.

People like New York City voter Elsa Jacob, who joined the Teresa bandwagon after hearing her speak on Tuesday. "Although she's a rich person, she looks at us and understands where we're coming from. She speaks from the heart," Jacob said.

Voters are likely to hear a lot more from Teresa Heinz Kerry in the coming months. Her schedulers say she is attempting to fulfill "hundreds" of interview requests, all while stumping for her husband. "It's very much an introduction to the American people," said Anderson.

The 65-year-old Mrs. Kerry says she's ready for life under the political microscope. "I just try and not let some of the very nice things people say get me inflated, and the other things that people sometimes say get me down. And I just kind of try and be me – somewhere in the middle. And stay humble, sense of humor, and strong, eat well – and I have. I'm wearing New Hampshire and Iowa on either hip," she said, smiling to a roomful of reporters.

By Bonney Kapp