Scribes groan as Kerry rants

While all politicians pledge to remove spin from politics, the Democratic presidential candidate has gone one further: he is murdering one-liners on sight.

To the dismay of his speechwriters, Mr Kerry’s attempts to "make it real" at rallies has led him to ramble so much that any snappy phrases composed for him are drowned in a sea of verbosity.

The result has presented journalists with a problem when covering his remarks - should they stick to the intended script or report the mess of platitudes Mr Kerry utters?

During one speech, Mr Kerry’s script writers had crafted the concise pledge: "I will work with Republicans and Democrats on this healthcare plan, and we will pass it."

In the candidate’s hands it became: "I will work with Republicans and Democrats across the aisle, openly, not with an ideological, driven, fixed, rigid concept, but much like Franklin Roosevelt said, I don’t care whether a good idea is a Republican idea or a Democrat idea. I just care whether or not it’s gonna’ work for Americans and help make our country stronger.

"And we will pass this bill. I’ll tell you a little bit about it in a minute, and I’ll tell you why we’ll pass it, because it’s different from anything we’ve ever done before, despite what the Republicans want to try to tell you."

The Massachusetts senator, who has spent his life with an eye for political office, is showing daily refusal to read simple declarations, preferring to ad-lib.

It can be a simple statement of the obvious - "that’s what’s at stake in this election" - or an attempt at adding the evangelical at random - "we can just hope and pray".

His scriptwriters’ snappy attack on Mr Bush’s healthcare plan - "Don’t get sick" - became: "And don’t get sick. Just pray, stand up and hope, wait - whatever. We are all left wondering and hoping. That’s it."