By HOPE YEN, Associated Press Writer 21 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry insisted on Sunday his "botched joke" about President Bush's Iraq policy would not undermine a possible White House campaign in 2008.
"Not in the least," Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004, said when asked if the furor over his comment had caused him to reconsider a 2008 race. "The parlor game of who's up, who's down, today or tomorrow, if I listened to that stuff, I would never have won the nomination."
One of the GOP politicians mentioned in a crowded field for the White House, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, said he would not make a decision until September — a relatively late date in the campaign cycle — to focus in the private sector on trade policies.
The Georgia Republican said Arizona Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record) and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, both of whom have set up presidential exploratory committees, were the likely front-runners. But Gingrich said voters are yearning for a clearer conservative voice.
"I think Mitt Romney has an opportunity to fill that," Gingrich said, referring to the outgoing Massachusetts governor.
McCain said Giuliani was an "American hero" for his leadership in New York following the Sept. 11 attacks. But McCain called himself the best presidential candidate based on a "record of being a conservative Republican, of knowledge on national security and defense issues."
"My advocacy for less government is the best government," said McCain, 70. "I'm older than dirt and I have more scars than Frankenstein, but I've learned a few things on the way."
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