Lewinsky-like affair may bring down Kerry

The US presidential election has just got a little steamier.

Massachusetts Senator John Kerry is being investigated by several media about a possible marital infidelity, which may ruin his chances of securing the Democratic presidential nomination, according to the US political watchdog Matt Drudge.

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The woman was on Friday named as Alex Polier, 37, who has left the US and is now believed to be in London. Kerry is said to have had an affair with her when she was an intern working for news agency Associated Press.

The 61-year-old senator is expected to tackle the rumours at a series of media appearances on Friday.

The tipster who first reported Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky runs the right-wing Drudge Report Web site, which claims two of Kerry's rivals for the Democrat nominations knew of the allegations. It said General Wesley Clark, who has bowed out of the race, told reporters privately: "Kerry will implode over an intern issue."

However, Gen Clark's campaign team has said he will publicly endorse Kerry on Friday.

erry is married to Teresa Heinz, 65, who has an inheritance of more than £300 million. She was born in Mozambique when it was a colony.

Her first husband, Republican senator John Heinz III, died in a plane crash in 1991. The following year she met the recently divorced Senator Kerry at the Earth Summit in Rio.