Kerry Campaign Events Cut as Democrats Criticize Troops' Remark
By Roger Runningen
Nov. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts canceled campaign appearances with Democratic congressional candidates in three states after members of his own party criticized his remarks about the Iraq war and U.S. troops.
Kerry won't appear today in Mankato, Minnesota on behalf of Tim Walz, a Democrat challenging Republican Representative Gil Gutknecht. The decision to cancel ``ultimately'' was Kerry's, said Walz spokeswoman Meredith Salsbery.
Bruce Braley, a Democrat running for Iowa's 1st Congressional seat,
asked Kerry not to campaign with him tomorrow, the Quad-Cities Times reported. Braley thought Kerry's remarks suggesting people with less education ``get stuck in Iraq'' were inappropriate, the paper said, citing Braley spokesman Jeff Giertz
Kerry also won't appear today in Philadelphia with U.S. Senate candidate Bob Casey, ABC News reported. Casey's race to unseat Republican Rick Santorum in Pennsylvania could be pivotal to Democrats' hopes to gain control of the Senate.
In Montana, Jon Tester, the Democratic challenger to incumbent Senator Republican Senator Conrad Burns, also
sought to distance himself from Kerry.
``Senator Kerry's remarks were poorly worded and just plain stupid,'' Tester said in a statement late yesterday. ``He owes our troops and their families an apology.'' President George W. Bush is scheduled to campaign for Burns in Montana tomorrow.
Kerry's spokesman confirmed the senator has canceled the appearances.
``We made a decision not to allow the Republican hate machine to use Democratic House candidates as proxies in their distorted spin war in which once again they're willing to exploit brave American troops,'' David Wade said in a statement.
`Stuck in Iraq'
Kerry, while campaigning in California Oct. 30 for gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides, said: ``Education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. And if you don't, you get stuck in Iraq.''
Bush yesterday accused Kerry of insulting troops in Iraq and said he should apologize. Kerry said Republicans were feigning outrage over a ``botched joke,'' and said Bush ought to apologize for misleading Americans over the war.
The Republican National Committee today rushed out a video clip headlined ``Kerry insults our troops'' with a replay of the senator's remarks.
To contact the reporter on this story: Roger Runningen in Washington at
rrunningen@bloomberg.net