US soldiers in Iraq respond to John Kerry's gaffe. Photograph: AP
Perhaps there was an October surprise in this election after all. Who could possibly have predicted that John Kerry would have swift-boated his own party just days before the vote? His late intervention in the election was farcical rather than malign, as was the case with the Vietnam veterans who popped up in 2004 to question his war record. But it served as an equally welcome distraction for a besieged White House.
It's too early to say whether there will be a Kerry effect on the race. The fuss is already fading from the news cycle but it will not have to linger long in the minds of voters to have an impact on Tuesday. And it was all the more damaging because it served to reinforce a stereotype the Democrats are desperately trying to escape, of a snobbish north-eastern elite.
Kerry normally only has to open his mouth to give that impression, but his choice of words on this occasion could hardly have been worse. By telling a group of California students that if they didn't study they could "get stuck in Iraq", Kerry seemed to be singing directly from the Republican song book, which has Democrats looking down their noses at the common soldier.
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