In June 2004, Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry attended a fundraiser hosted by rocker Jon Bon Jovi. "Jon Bon Jovi plays the guitar," Kerry told the assembled guests. "I like to play the guitar. Jon Bon Jovi wears a leather jacket, I like to wear a leather jacket. Jon Bon Jovi was one of the 50 most beautiful people in People magazine... I like to read People magazine."

[Richard Holmes, a local historian in Derry, New Hampshire, once traced John Kerry's maternal lineage to an Irish immigrant, Reverend James McGregor, who is thought to have planted the first potatoes in America. Holmes also found a distant relationship to another American potato-lover: Britney Spears. And according to Burke's Peerage, Kerry "is descended from Henry II, the king of England and father of Richard the Lionheart."]