(Reuters) – Barack Obama will turn to another tall politician from Massachusetts to play his Republican rival Mitt Romney when he rehearses for this year’s presidential campaign debates: Democratic U.S. Senator John Kerry.
Kerry is a veteran of presidential election debates, after narrowly losing the 2004 election to Republican George W. Bush, the incumbent. He is considered one of the Democratic Party’s best debaters.
A source familiar with Kerry’s role confirmed he had been tapped to help Obama prepare for his three debates against Romney this autumn, after The Washington Post reported the campaign’s plan on Monday.
Kerry is the senior senator from Massachusetts, where Romney was governor from 2003 to 2007, and served as a surrogate for the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy, when he defeated Romney in the 1994 U.S. Senate race.
Besides experience in Massachusetts and his height – Romney is 6 feet, 2 inches tall, and Kerry is 6 feet, 4 inches tall – Kerry has other similarities to the presumptive 2012 Republican nominee.
Both men have been criticized for having difficulty relating to regular Americans, and both are very wealthy. Romney’s fortune is estimated at $250 million. Kerry’s wealth has been estimated at about $230 million and he is married to Teresa Heinz Kerry, a wealthy heiress to the Heinz ketchup fortune.
Obama is 6 feet, 1 inch tall.
(Reporting By Patricia Zengerle; additional reporting by Susan Cornwell; editing by Todd Eastham)
