Kerry fake bakes!

[Rudey]

I really want to go tanning but anyway:

JOHN A 'BRONZE' STAR


By BILL HOFFMANN and HEATHER GILMORE


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September 29, 2004 -- John Kerry has suddenly become the man with a tan that even George Hamilton would envy — leading to accusations that something is shady just before the big presidential debate.

How the Democratic presidential candidate got his striking new orange glow depends on whom you ask.

The Kerry camp reportedly insisted he earned it fair and square — by baking in the sun during a game of flag football last Friday in Bedford, Mass.

But a top New York dermatologist — after studying new photos of Kerry — told The Post yesterday that the deep bronze color appears to be one big fake.

"Wow! That is a tan! He has color all over his face. But if he had gotten it all outside, he wouldn't have been so evenly tanned," said Dr. Ted Daly of Garden City Dermatology.

"My diagnosis is: it's a tanning salon — some ultraviolet rays."

Daly — affiliated with Stony Brook University Medical Center and Winthrop-University Hospital — added: "Maybe he's trying to be more handsome for the female voting block."



Kerry's colorful transformation — which comes just before his first TV debate with President Bush tomorrow — also had Manhattan tanning salons abuzz with theories on how he went from paleface to golden boy.

"To me it looks like it came out of a bottle or was sprayed on. He's too fair so that's why it looks orange," said Sarh Degaetano, a tanning consultant at Hollywood Tans on Sixth Avenue in Chelsea.

"With all that money he has, he should spend it on a quality tan job."

Kerry, a prostate-cancer survivor who often appears pallid, may be trying to project a healthy image for the crucial debate. But experts said he should worry more about his physical health than his political well-being.

"With his fair skin, he's more at risk for skin cancer than someone with olive skin. I would really suggest for him to minimize his tanning," Daly said.

"People do it because it's equated with beauty — but in reality, it ages you, it causes more wrinkling, more liver spots.

"And cases of melanoma are skyrocketing."

Told Kerry's tan was being viewed as suspect, campaign spokesman Phil Singer had no immediate response.

President Bush's camp also declined comment, but a senior Republican told The Post:

"Last week, he was pale and today he looks like George Hamilton. Most Americans are going to find that a bit strange. [The tan] doesn't seem to have a lot of credibility."

-Rudey