Editor’s Note: The Concord Monitor weighed in today with a report on Kerry’s campaigning on behalf of Mr. Hodes and why Charlie Bass is wrong for New Hampshire:

Kerry: Hodes is best man for job

During a multi-state, multimedia blitz, Kerry has assailed the president and the Republican-controlled Congress while keeping his own name in circulation – in early primary and caucus states, especially – as a potential 2008 presidential candidate. He has focused particularly on Republicans he believes speak and act inconsistently. Bass fits that bill, Kerry said in a phone interview.

“Charlie Bass presents one face in New Hampshire and a different face in Washington,” said Kerry, who will visit Manchester tonight as the keynote speaker at the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner, the state Democratic Party’s annual fall fundraiser. “People in New Hampshire need to focus on the man who votes with President Bush 87 percent of the time.” [...] Kerry told [Bill] Maher [last Friday on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher] his presidential bid taught him that it’s not enough for Democrats to offer policy alternatives on health care, the environment or the war on terror; they need to challenge and confront Republican attempts to control rhetoric, too.

“It’s a lesson for everybody in ‘06: Don’t give them an instant,” Kerry said. “Don’t give them one breath of daylight. And if I ever do anything again, I never will.”

Kerry’s career in Washington has overlapped with Bass’s for a dozen years. He said New Hampshire voters should disregard Bass’s claims to independence and realize that he’s one of many Republicans who “have walked like lemmings in the footsteps of the president.” [...] Kerry called Bass a “rubber stamp” for Bush and faulted him for supporting the president on the Iraq war, on the prescription-drug plan known as Medicare Part D and on cuts to veterans’ health care, among other issues.

Kerry said Hodes represents a distinct alternative, particularly on Iraq. “Paul Hodes is clear that we’re not going to occupy Iraq permanently, clear that we ought to get our National Guard and Reserve troops out of there, clear that Iraqis have got to solve this problem,” Kerry said. “The leadership – i.e., (Defense Secretary Donald) Rumsfeld and Charlie Bass – has been on the wrong side of those issues.” [...] “It really is costing the United States,” he said. “It’s costing us lives, it’s costing us young families’ grief, it’s costing us billions of dollars.”