US: Democratic front-runner John Kerry yesterday dismissed a claim by an Internet news site that he had had an affair with a female intern, writes Conor O'Clery, North America Editor in New York
"Well there is nothing to report, so there is nothing to talk about. There's nothing there, there's no story," the Massachusetts senator told MSNBC. "These guys will want to try to do everything to change the subject," he added, an apparent reference to a controversy over President Bush's National Guard service.
"But the subject is three million jobs lost in the last few years, it's healthcare that's completely unaffordable and unreachable for tens of millions of Americans, it's kids who are not getting a decent education all across America."
Mr Kerry's blunt denial eased a 24-hour period of turmoil in his campaign which is focused on adding Wisconsin to his tally of 12 of the 14 states contested so far in the battle for the Democratic nomination. Yesterday in Milwaukee, Mr Kerry won the endorsement of his former rival Wesley Clark and a promise of the backing next week of the AFL-CIO, which has 64 affiliate unions.
The AFL-CIO has endorsed only two other presidential candidates, Walter Mondale in 1984 and Al Gore in 2000. "Request permission to come aboard, the army's here," said the retired Gen Clark to Mr Kerry, a navy lieutenant during the Vietnam War, as he appeared with the front-runner at an event in Milwaukee.
Mr Clark, who dropped out of the race after defeats in Tennessee and Virginia on Tuesday, was quoted by the Drudge Report website on Thursday as telling reporters off the record that the Kerry campaign would "implode" over an intern scandal.
However, Mr Clark told a journalist yesterday who asked him about this: "I know of nothing past or present that could derail Kerry's campaign."
In his MSNBC interview Mr Kerry said: "I've been pretty well, you know, vetted and examined from one side to the other".
His opponents were in for a surprise, he added. "I am a fighter, and I'm ready to fight back." In on-air comments after Mr Kerry's denial, MSNBC presenter Don Imus remarked that "Kerry is dead" if something were subsequently to come out.
The mainstream US media has not followed up on the Kerry allegation but NBC, ABC and CNN yesterday carried the denial of an affair by the senator, who is married with two children.
Seeing Mr Kerry as the likely Democratic nominee, the Bush re-election campaign has posted videos on its official website mocking Mr Kerry's frequent claim that he is opposed to special interests. "Sounds good," says the announcer, but Mr Kerry had raised "more special interest money than any other senator".