In Bethlehem, Pa., he declined to name foreign leaders he said preferred him to Bush.
By Paul Farhi
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Sen. John Kerry ran into some tough questioning yesterday about his assertion last week that he had met with foreign leaders who support his candidacy over President Bush.
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, who rarely makes overtly partisan comments, challenged Kerry to name one such official.
"I don't know what foreign leaders Senator Kerry is talking about," Powell said on Fox News Sunday. "It's an easy charge, an easy assertion to make. But if he feels it is that important an assertion to make, he ought to list some names. If he can't list names, then perhaps he should find something else to talk about."
Kerry declined to disclose which foreign dignitaries he had met with, or when, during a town hall meeting and later in a news conference at Northampton Community College here.
He was repeatedly called "a liar" during the public forum by a heckler, Cedric Brown, who interrupted Kerry's comments on health care, education and the economy to raise questions about the claim of foreign endorsements. Under questioning by Kerry, Brown described himself as a Bush supporter...
Kerry said yesterday that he would not disclose names because doing so could injure those nations' relations with the Bush administration. But he reiterated that he had met with, and talked to, foreign representatives about the election.