WASHINGTON (March 27) - While on the presidential trail in 2004, Sen. John Kerry earned a reputation as an elitist. But is he choosier than Vice President Dick Cheney?
According to documents unveiled by an investigative Web site, the answer seems to be a simple
yes. The Massachusetts Democrat and his wife, Theresa Heinz Kerry, adore Caesar salads and stone crab, but John Kerry doesn't want anything to do with celery or Evian bottled water.
And even though his wife is an heir to Heinz food company fortune, the travel rider reveals that Kerry didn't want anything to do with tomatoes.
The duo's four pages of travel and hotel needs — posted Monday by The Smoking Gun following last week's posting of a relatively meager travel rider for the Vice President — list dozens of meal preferences and room specifications.
Like most other celebrities and politicians, the Kerrys have specific desires — some standard, some quirky.
The Kerrys' list includes vitamin waters and peanut butter (Skippy creamy) on the bus and in the hotel, boost "weight maintenance" drinks, a recumbent bicycle (a note from Kerry's scheduling director reads: Kerry "would prefer a recumbent bike these days" rather than an upright stationary bicycle), milano cookies, down pillows, and television with "ability to order movies in-suite"
But don't present John Kerry with tomato-based anything, foodstuffs containing celery, heavy sauces or Evian bottled water (he prefers Poland Spring).
"I know this may seem trivial, but these things make (Kerry) very happy," chief scheduler Alyssa Mastromonaco wrote.
The Smoking Gun has obtained and published some 200 concert riders — the lists of backstage dressing-room must-haves by stars from Jimmy Buffett to Britney Spears. Last week, the site published Cheney's rider, with needs including: all television sets tuned to Fox News, all lights on, and the thermostat set to 68 degrees.
Cheney, 65 with a history of heart disease, plays it safe on beverages and asks for decaf coffee — brewed before his arrival — plus lots of bottled water and four cans of Diet Sprite.
Despite the detailed lists of beverage preferences by the Capital Hill bigs unveiled this week, neither Cheney nor Kerry's demands match up to the demands of divas like Jennifer Lopez, who requires a completely white-draped room and yellow roses with red tips.
However, J.Lo and the senator from Massachusetts do share something: Neither can stomach tomatoes.
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0327061kerry1.html