The American Spectator

p> TENDERFOOT KERRY br> Just who wears the pants — and carries the cash — in the Kerry family became embarrassingly clear over the weekend, when, while shopping in Albuquerque, John Kerry had to let wife Teresa cover the cost of jewelry he wanted to buy for her. /p>

Terry Kerry pulled out the $125 necessary for her hubby to buy her a turquoise necklace. While the Senator seemed perturbed at the situation, the missus acted like this was business as usual, chirpily thanking the mature woman behind the counter in Spanish: “Muchas gracias, abuelita.” (“Thank you very much, grandmother.”) The candidate, on the other hand, gave a half-hearted wave and walked out of the shop.

Kerry’s whole New Mexico trip was a bit of disaster. For part of the day, in an attempt to play “regular guy,” the Massachusetts senator wore new cowboy boots procured for him by Gov. Bill Richardson. “But they made his feet sore, and we had to get them off,” says a campaign staffer.

Kerry also went shopping for a cowboy hat, but apparently some staffers were able to cut him off at the cash register before another embarrassing photo op could develop.

p> BUSHWHACKERS br> So much for Sen. John Edwards ’ “Two Americas.” Over the weekend, Edwards, who’s “Two Americas” stump speech was said to have enticed the Kerry campaign to put the North Carolinian on the bottom of the ticket, apparently dumped the stumper and ripped off Democratic hottie Barack Obama