From our interview with her, done just before she boarded her plane to RDU yesterday:
When I was a kid, I was a fanatical Jack Kennedy fan, and I wrote him a letter saying, “I’m running for the president of my student council, and I admire the way you’re running your campaign. Can you give me any tips?” What a brat, you know. He sent me a really long letter, and it said, basically, “Find out what the students want and promise it.” In other words, be a representative of people. Don’t try to force your own ideas onto people. Find out what they want. I really tried to do that.
When I won the election, I sent him another bratty letter saying, “I won the election. Best wish in your own endeavors.” Then he did something incredibly smart: He sent me twelve long-stemmed red roses and a telegram of congratulations. So, of course, it’s on the front page of our little local paper: “Local girl receives roses from Jack Kennedy.” And I’m sure every woman in town voted for him. I’m sure largely because of that. It was like, “What a romantic guy! And he likes this little girl. How great!” They were just really impressed that he cared enough about one little kid to do all of that. Of course, he had a giant staff or whatever, but he projected romanticism.
She plays at Duke at 8 p.m. tonight.
