For Kerry lookalike, double duty calls

His signature mane is parted lower on the head than most, and he has a certain tic when he makes speeches, often raising his eyebrows and pointing into the crowd as if to say, to no one in particular, ''Hey, I know you."

But Senator John F. Kerry's patrician inflection is the hardest part to impersonate. A local scientist has been trying for months to capture it. Tom DiCesare has downloaded speeches from the candidate's website and listened to them over and over again during his commute between Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his home in Wayland.

''I may be behind in the polls, but I relish that fact," he mimicked the candidate, standing on a balcony outside his office at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research.

DiCesare began impersonating Kerry in April and had only four gigs under his belt before yesterday. But now he's preparing for a busy election and convention season, starting yesterday with ''Voteaerobics" classes at a downtown gym. Dicesare helped lead the class in ''party switching" (running back and forth between a Republican cone and a Democrat cone), ''get on your soapbox" (stepups onto a box), and ''the bipartisan press" (push-ups).

DiCesare realizes it's not exactly the National Press Club, but with help from Kerry (if he wins in November), the scientific illustrator could be plucked from obscurity and whisked into the cutthroat world of celebrity impersonators, where bookings pay thousands of dollars, but where marketability is inextricably linked to your subject.

Former vice president Al Gore's lookalike hasn't worked a decent Gore job since 2000. Brent Welch of Concord, Calif., went from pocketing $5,000 for an appearance at a mortgage bankers' convention in 2000 to one $200 paycheck last year for mimicking Gore in a student film at the University of Southern California.

If Gore had been elected, ''I would have made a lot more money the last couple of years," said Welch, a former software manager who recently threw in the towel on his $20-a-month Al Gore lookalike website. ''There were no phone calls; there was nothing going on."

Marketability also depends on the personality of the politicians being parodied, Welch said. And he predicted that DiCesare and any other aspiring Kerry impersonators may have an uphill battle.

''Gore was kind of a dull guy, and Kerry's kind of a dull guy, too," Welch said. Bill Clinton ''had a little more excitement going for him," he added.

Pat Rick still gets work as a Clinton impersonator, quipping in a phone interview that he is still accepting intern applications. Rick -- a consultant for penile implant manufacturers who lives in Orange County, Calif. -- said DiCesare could be in for a bumpy ride. ''I think you have to be a little off to be an impersonator," Rick said.

There are two classes in the impersonator market, participants say. On one level are those with lifelong potential, Marilyns and Elvises, who often sing or dance as part of their act. Then there are the somewhat drier politicos, who often give speeches akin to standup comedy routines.

''It's maybe a little higher tier," explained Brent Mendenhall, a President Bush impersonator whom DiCesare consulted this spring when he was starting out.

DiCesare said he is prepared for the challenge, come what may. He's got the hair down, he's worked up his shtick, and he's signed up with an agent who handles lookalikes. He has also set aside vacation time between now and November, so he can accommodate the flood of bookings he's expecting.

So far, he's appeared at the Comedy Connection near Faneuil Hall, at a party for Bunker Hill Community College, and on ''Live with Regis and Kelly," a spot he said he earned as the best amateur Kerry impersonator.

The best political impersonators can make $20,000 an appearance and be flown around the world for television and movie cameos.

''My card is filling up," DiCesare said, a note of excitement in his voice. But also like the senator, DiCesare said he is not quite ready to quit his day job. ''I married a museum curator," he said with a chuckle.

Donovan Slack can be reached at dslack@globe.com.