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On the evening of Thursday, February 12, as John Kerry had just chalked up his twelfth state-primary win in his quest for the Democratic presidential nomination, I was at a dinner party in Nairobi, hosted by my friend Matthew Rosenberg, an Associated Press reporter based in East Africa. The male guests were discussing a recent poker game, while the women sat around trading recipes to give to their cooks. It promised to be your typical Nairobi night.
Five months earlier, I had quit my job at the AP in New York and moved to Kenya with my fiancé, Yaron Schwartzman, who?d grown up there. He had been offered a film-production job, and I wanted to try some foreign corresponding. That night the group included aid workers, diplomats, photographers, and the feisty AP bureau chief, Susan Linnee.
As we started dinner, I was dimly aware of Susan?s cell phone?s ringing. I didn?t know her well but was excited to talk to her in case a job in the bureau came up. She went outside to answer it, then came back and beckoned me to join her in the garden. ?The New York office wants to talk to you,? she said, and then she dialed the number and passed me the phone.
?Hello, Alex,? said the familiar voice of my old boss, Tom Kent, one of AP?s deputy managing editors. He sounded brusque. ?I hate to tell you this, but you?re on the Drudge Report,? he said, and then proceeded to read me Matt Drudge?s latest ?world exclusive.?
?A frantic behind-the-scenes drama is unfolding around Sen. John Kerry and his quest to lockup the Democratic nomination for President, the drudge report can reveal.
?Intrigue surrounds a woman who recently fled the country, reportedly at the prodding of Kerry, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.
?A serious investigation of the woman and the nature of her relationship with Sen. John Kerry has been underway at TIME magazine, ABC NEWS, the WASHINGTON POST, THE HILL and the ASSOCIATED PRESS, where the woman in question once worked.
?MORE [!]
?A close friend of the woman first approached a reporter late last year claiming fantastic stories?stories that now threaten to turn the race for the presidency on its head!
?In an off-the-record conversation with a dozen reporters earlier this week General Wesley Clark plainly stated: ?Kerry will implode over an intern issue.? [Three reporters in attendance confirm Clark made the startling comments.]
?The Kerry commotion is why Howard Dean has turned increasingly aggressive against Kerry in recent days, and is the key reason why Dean reversed his decision to drop out of the race after Wisconsin, top campaign sources tell the DRUDGE REPORT.?
I wasn?t named, but Kent explained everyone knew whom Drudge was talking about. I was stunned into silence. ?You have to make a statement, Alex,? Kent was saying. ?I have no comment,? I managed to say as tears began to well. He sounded desperate to keep me on the line. ?I?m not going to talk to the media,? I said. I was too overwhelmed and confused to know what had happened. I had never had an affair with John Kerry. Who was trying to make me the next Monica Lewinsky?
Though my name wasn?t mentioned in the initial Drudge ?exclusive,? it made its first appearance in the British tabloid The Sun on Friday, February 13. The article, by one Brian Flynn, referred to Kerry as a SLEAZEBALL in the headline and said I was 24 (didn?t I wish). It purported to quote my father at home in Pennsylvania discussing the senator, saying, ?I think he?s a sleazeball.? The article also claimed to quote my mother as saying Kerry had once chased after me to be on his campaign. My mother was not even home when Flynn called, and Flynn didn?t tell my father?who at this stage was unaware of the Drudge allegations?that he was interviewing him. Instead, he presented himself as a friend trying to get hold of me to talk about John Kerry. My father, a Republican, who believed Kerry had flip-flopped on various issues, said, ?Oh, that sleazeball.? ? Here?s how it reappeared in Flynn?s piece: ?There is no evidence the pair had an affair, but her father, Terry, 56, said: ?I think he?s a sleazeball.? ? Drudge quickly linked to The Sun?s interview.
...The Sun?s Brian Flynn, who had first named me. Afraid I would lose my temper, I asked my editor to call him first.
?I was calling to ask you who your source was for your story which named Alex Polier as the intern in the Kerry story,? she said.
?Ah, many people have asked me; it was a fantastic source,? he said. ?I broke that story to the world, you know,? he added proudly. ?But your source was wrong,? she pointed out. He paused, startled. ?You?ve just ambushed me,? he cried. ?You?ve ambushed me!?
?I think you should speak to Alex,? she said and passed me the phone.
?Hello,? he said, sounding nervous.
?I?d like to talk to you. I?m writing a piece and have some questions.?
?It?s not a good time right now,? he said. ?Let?s meet up next week.?
?Why did you quote my mother when she wasn?t even home?? I persisted.
?I really can?t talk about this right now, Alex,? he said.
When I finally tracked him down the following week, he was brusque and told me to go through The Sun?s PR office. I asked him about my mother again, but he kept saying, ?Sorry, Alex, proper channels.? Reached in London, Lorna Carmichael, The Sun?s PR manager, refused to comment. I went to Flynn?s apartment, and spoke to his wife through the intercom. ?Go away and leave us alone!? she cried. ?He?s not going to come down or speak to you.?
My final call, inevitably, had to be to Matt Drudge, who said he couldn?t talk for long as his father had just arrived for the weekend. In fact, we spoke for nearly 40 minutes. ?In retrospect, I should have had a sentence saying, ?There is no evidence to tie Alex to John Kerry.? I should have put that,? he told me. Then he added, ?If Clark had not gone out there and said, ?Kerry is going to bomb,? I never, ever, would have gone anywhere near this.? Once he?d posted his initial story, he was then encouraged and gratified by the prompt coverage in the UK press. ?When the London Times made it a banner headline, like we?re going to war, I realized this must be true. Murdoch is going all the way with this! For me to do media coverage was one thing, for them to jump from media coverage to say this is actually an affair between her and him and all the rest was something else!?
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