Locally, senator's gaffe leaves many mystified; some see a GOP boost

"There was a lot of eye-rolling and sighing, hands up in the air, people saying, 'What do you expect?' " said Dan Payne , a Democratic consultant who was among local power brokers gathered yesterday to honor former Boston mayor Kevin H. White. "It's making them relive John Kerry's presidential campaign, which was not a particularly good experience for all concerned."

More than a dozen interviews with political activists, soldiers' families, and local residents found sharp divisions of opinion on Kerry's remark, which seemed to question the intelligence of using troops "stuck in Iraq."

Some demanded an apology, which Kerry issued yesterday afternoon after angrily refusing to do so on Tuesday. Others criticized Republicans, saying the GOP was seeking to exploit the issue. Still others were mystified that Kerry, a decorated Vietnam veteran, could utter such a comment.

Local Democratic activists fretted that Kerry had handed Republicans a gift in the last days before Tuesday's election, when Democrats hope to wrest control of Congress.

"Karl Rove has been wracking his brain over how to make Bush look good on the war, and John Kerry may have shown him how to do it," Payne said.

A Democratic consultant, Mary Anne Marsh, said Kerry handled himself well yesterday by avoiding the spotlight. "It would probably be smart to not campaign between now and Tuesday," she said.

One local Kerry loyalist, however, said the tempest over the senator's comments would have little electoral impact.

"People aren't stupid. They are not going to vote on the basis of a joke," said the state Democratic Party chairman, Philip W. Johnston. "This is much ado about nothing."

Not according to Peter J. Huberman , 69, an investment manager who was in the Marine Corps Reserve from 1956 to 1962. "I think it's the end of Kerry's chances of ever being considered for the Democratic nomination," said Huberman, one of almost a dozen people interviewed in and around Government Center at lunchtime yesterday.

John J. Feeley, 55, a Boston tour guide, said Kerry's comment was no mistake.

"I definitely feel he may have been revealing more of his inner self than was politically reasonable," he said, adding that Kerry had spoken a "hard truth" that working-class people are more likely to end up in the military than the affluent.

But Joseph G. Reddick, 44, a registered Democrat who was tending a friend's book kiosk in Downtown Crossing, said Bush is trying to exploit a minor slip of the tongue because the electorate is turning away from his policies.

"He served in the military himself, so I'm pretty sure that wasn't a jab at the men and women who serve in our armed forces," Reddick said of Kerry. "There are far more pressing issues here than the comment that he made."

But in Raynham, the family of a soldier recently killed in Iraq took offense.

"If you want to slap President Bush, go ahead and do it. But don't put our military people in the middle," said Louise Ford , grandmother of Lance Corporal Michael L. Ford of New Bedford.

Ford, a 19-year-old Marine, was struck on April 26 by a roadside bomb in Iraq.

Louise Ford said her grandson had volunteered for the Marines because he had been outraged over the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

"They think that our young people are dumb," Ford said of critics of the caliber of current and recent military recruits. "But let me tell you, they know what they're getting into."

Army Major Mark Spear, who commands recruiters who are based north and west of Boston, said he found it all hard to comprehend.

"Anybody who raises their right hand did so because they volunteered to do it, not because they had no other choice," Spear said.

"I don't know why anybody would say that about young men and women who would go into harm's way," he added.

John R. Ellement of the Globe staff contributed to this report.