The AP, Time magazine, ABC News and the Washington Post have been working on a story about a woman who began a two-year relationship with the Massachusetts senator in the spring of 2001, Drudge said.
The woman reportedly was approached by a top news reporter, prompting Kerry to urge her to leave the country. Drudge reported last night the woman fled to Africa, where she remains.
The London Sun identified the woman as Alex Polier, 24, a former New York-based reporter for the AP who now is in Kenya, refusing to comment.
Her parents, Terry and Donna of Malvern, Pa., told the paper there is no evidence of an affair, but Mrs. Polier said Kerry was "after" her daughter.
Kerry had invited Alex to Washington two or three years ago to work on the senator's re-election campaign, they said.
She declined, said the father, who had harsh words for Kerry, according to the Sun.
"I think he's a sleazeball. I did kind of wonder if my daughter didn't get that kind of feeling herself," he said.
"He's not the sort of guy I would choose to be with my daughter."
AP stories filed by Polier were published with a New York dateline beginning in Oct. 22, 2002, and ending March 31, 2003, on subjects such as entertainment, AIDS and health insurance. None were related to politics or Sen. Kerry.
Late last year, the relationship was revealed to a reporter by a close friend of the woman "claiming fantastic stories," said Drudge, "that now threaten to turn the race for the presidency on its head."
On Feb. 6, a weblog of "2004 U.S. election news and opinion," called WatchBlog, ran an item indicating awareness of the media probe.
The site is run by Cameron Barrett, who has worked for the presidential campaign of Gen. Wesley Clark, setting up the Clark Community Network at clark04.com, according to an AP story in December.
The Feb. 6 entry on Watchblog said: "Rumor has it that John Kerry (D) is going to be outed by Time Magazine next week for having an affair with a 20 year old woman who remains unknown. The affair supposedly took place intermittently right up to Kerry's Fall 2002 announcement of candidacy."
