Refreshing & Threatening
What made Teresa Heinz Kerry so refreshing to some voters, and threatening to others on the 2004 campaign trail, is summed up when THK talks about her speech to last year's Democratic convention:
"Nobody told me what to do," she told a Saturday fund-raiser here.
[…]
Heinz Kerry is openly skeptical about results from November's election, particularly in sections of the country where optical scanners were used to record votes."Two brothers own 80 percent of the machines used in the United States," Heinz Kerry said. She identified both as "hard-right" Republicans. She argued that it is "very easy to hack into the mother machines."
"We in the United States are not a banana republic," added Heinz Kerry. She argued that Democrats should insist on "accountability and transparency" in how votes are tabulated.
"I fear for '06," she said. "I don't trust it the way it is right now."
[…]
[Teresa] Heinz Kerry is still steamed at what the Republican attack machine did to her husband."Think about last year," she said. "Once John had his nomination, the Republicans spent $90 million to destroy his reputation."
[From "In The Northwest: Teresa Heinz Kerry hasn't lost her outspoken way", by Joel Connelly, in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.]