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Articles: Vanessa & Alexandra Kerry

Kerry's daughters hold their own in the spotlight

BOSTON - Politics are nothing new to Alex and Vanessa Kerry. Their father was first elected to the Senate in 1984, when they were still in elementary school, and the sisters campaigned for him during the Democratic primaries in Iowa and Tennessee last winter.

But Sen. John Kerry's ultra-modern and blended family -- his second marriage, to Teresa Heinz Kerry, his two grown daughters and three adult step-sons -- are of increasing interest this week. Chris Heinz addressed delegates Tuesday night, and Alex and Vanessa speak Thursday, the night Kerry officially accepts his party's nomination.

They wrote their own speeches. Both daughters are bright and articulate with independent lives and ambitious careers of their own.

But they are still navigating the constantly shifting line between their private lives and increasingly public personas. Ronald Reagan Jr., Chelsea Clinton, and Al Gore's daughters have all given advice, and the Kerry campaign has assigned a full-time staff person to juggle their jam-packed schedules.

Alex, 30, is an aspiring film director, and Vanessa, 27, is finishing up her third year at Harvard Medical School. The two sisters are very close, often appearing at joint campaign events where they echo each other's thoughts and support each other's efforts to set boundaries with the increasingly curious national press corps.

Exhibit A: Teresa Heinz Kerry created buzz earlier this week when she told a reporter for a conservative Pittsburgh newspaper to ``shove it,'' then said she would do so again. Tuesday, the Boston Herald unearthed 1975 comments from Heinz Kerry -- then a registered Republican -- that were disparaging of Sen. Edward Kennedy, the senior Democratic senator from Massachusetts. She was quoted as saying she didn't trust Kennedy, comments that the Kerry campaign quickly dismissed given the warm relationship Heinz Kerry and Kennedy have now, three decades later.

At an early morning breakfast with reporters Tuesday, Kerry's daughters were quick to defend their stepmother. But both were clearly exasperated that the press was focusing on her words instead of policy issues or the Democratic platform.

``I think she'd be an incredible first lady,'' said Alex Kerry, often described as the quieter of the two daughters. She went on to say that the incessant questions about Heinz Kerry's outspokenness and bluntness -- traits rarely used when describing men -- was both sad and confusing to her.

``The news that I have seen, the questions that we have gotten, have been about two comments of my stepmother's: one was 30 years ago, and one was yesterday,'' she said.

When another reporter persisted, Vanessa Kerry jumped in.

``I'm sorry, I'm sitting here bristling,'' she said angrily. ``There's an attempt to make a controversy out of something to distract from what we really should be talking about, and it's so frustrating.''

Vanessa Kerry said that her stepmother, who was born in Mozambique and lived through a dictatorship, is deeply patriotic, particularly because she first voted when she moved to the United States. Like her sister, she challenged the media to focus on issues instead of exchanges and old comments that she feels have been blown out of proportion.

``Let's talk about the job loss and the cost of health care, the number of people that I see coming through the door (of the clinic where she works) uninsured and very sick,'' she said.

Vanessa Kerry is often described as the more outspoken daughter. She said she was very proud of her father's political record, but admits that they differ on the issue of gay marriage.

``I personally believe in gay marriage and he believes in civil unions,'' she said, citing their difference as largely one of semantics.

Vanessa Kerry is more comfortable then her older sister on the campaign trail, and her big hope is that she can encourage young people who feel disengaged from national politics to vote. She regularly speaks at college campuses and addresses abortion rights groups, is intensely passionate about world hunger and AIDS, and spent a summer in Ghana vaccinating children.

In September, she moves to London to begin a master's program in international relations and health policy, a move that will delay her actual medical school graduation for a few more years. She is alternately campaigning for her father and focusing on her medical studies, and says that her work with patients has been a welcome distraction from the craziness of convention week.

``It was strange how nice it was to be in clinic yesterday,'' she said. `You could just focus on that, you focus on your patients, and you get to be in your life, and I think that's important to both of us.''

Alex recently graduated from the director's program at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles and brings a director's keen eye to her father's campaign. She often brings her video camera to events and has collected hours of documentary footage of her family on the campaign trail. She recently finished ``The Last Full Measure,'' a 15-minute film about a young girl coping with her father's return from Vietnam, and traveled to the Cannes Film Festival in France to promote it.

While Alex and Vanessa have been the most visible candidates' children this campaign cycle, their stepbrothers and the children of vice presidential candidate John Edwards also have a busy week.

Heinz Kerry has three sons from her first marriage to the late Pennsylvania Sen. John Heinz: Andre, Chris and John Heinz IV. On Wednesday Andre Heinz will speak to the Wisconsin and Oregon delegation's breakfast, while Chris Heinz will speak to the Michigan and New Mexico delegations. Cate Edwards, the eldest daughter of John and Elizabeth Edwards, is being feted at a brunch hosted by former vice president Al Gore's daughters.

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