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Kerry plows forward, brushing off rumor of affair

Bolstered by the polls and disarray in a rival camp, a confident-sounding John Kerry wrapped up his campaign for yesterday's pivotal Wisconsin presidential primary by aiming barbs at US President George W. Bush and ignoring his Democratic opponents.

Kerry has focused heavily on job-creation plans, and on Monday he labeled Bush "missing in action" on the economy. He ridiculed the president for taking a trip to the Daytona 500 auto race in Florida at a time when the economy should have his undivided attention.

"We don't need a president who just says, `Gentlemen, start your engines,'" Kerry said.

"We need a president who says, `America, let's start our economy and put people back to work,'" he said.

While Kerry was sounding like a general election candidate, Howard Dean's campaign went through an election-eve shake-up that left him battered and his future in even greater doubt.

At the same time, Senator John Edwards said he would sharpen the differences he has with all of his rivals and argued that he was in the race for the long haul. He said it was not too late for a surge in polls that have given Kerry a wide lead in the latest primary test.

The Democratic rivals swept across Wisconsin on the eve of a primary that has 72 delegates at stake, and could offer the last chance to blunt the momentum that Kerry has built in piling up 14 wins in the first 16 contests of the primary season.

Meanwhile, Kerry was attracting attention abroad over rumors of an extramarital affair. The woman at the center of rumors that he had an extramarital affair broke her silence yesterday, insisting she had never been romantically or professionally involved with him.

Alexandra Polier, 27, a freelance journalist, spoke publicly in Nairobi, Kenya, to deny rumors of an affair.

"I have never had a relationship with Senator Kerry, and the rumors in the press are completely false," she said.

Appealing to the media to respect her privacy, Polier said: "Whoever is spreading these rumors and allegations does not know me ... I never interned or worked for John Kerry."

The denials will raise questions about press intrusion and accuracy, particularly in Britain, where the media was more willing to print Polier's name without any verification.

The allegations emerged on a rightwing Web site, the Drudge Report, last Thursday.

The rumor was reported on the front page of the Times the following day.

Concerned about the veracity of the unsourced allegations, mainstream newspapers and broadcasting channels in the US gave scant coverage to the story and did not publish Polier's name.

But it was picked up by newspapers abroad, particularly in Britain, where her name was used and her family tracked down and interviewed.
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