Weighing the Impact of Political Missteps One Week Before Election

— -- After Tuesday's "war of words" between President Bush and Sen. John Kerry, ABC's George Stephanopoulos answers questions about the ongoing political sparring match.

ABCNEWS: Do you see the Kerry incident doing significant damage to Democrats with the election so close?

STEPHANOPOULOS: It definitely cost them the day, no question about that. And it fit into the Republican strategy they've had all week long, in these final days of the campaign: to rile up their most loyal base, conservative base voters. Listen, the Republicans spent almost $200 million getting that base to hate John Kerry, so they figure they can use that investment in this election -- it might boost turnout among their most loyal voters by a percentage point or so. That said, it comes with some cost and a little bit of risk for Republicans because it puts Iraq front and center and Iraq is the biggest anchor right now on the president and on the Republicans.

ABCNEWS: If you were advising John Kerry today, what would you tell him to do? Would you tell him to back off?

STEPHANOPOULOS: Go to the beach, take a day off. I think there was a flurry of phone calls among Democratic leaders last night between Sen. Kerry, and the head of the Senate campaign committee, the head of the House campaign committee. They're all going back and forth. I think Kerry decided to bench himself at least for today. He's not going to be campaigning in Iowa, I think, and Minnesota. Maybe by the weekend, after this blows over, he'll be able to go out and campaign, but I think he understood that he shouldn't be the story going into the final days. The focus for Democrats should be on President Bush and Iraq.

ABCNEWS: How long do you foresee the Republicans running with this sparring match?

STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, I just got off the phone with an RNC official who said they have cut a Web ad overnight that takes Sen. McCain's comments, Sen. Kerry's comments, Bush's comments. They will try to get some free publicity out of that. It's a Web ad, it's not a TV ad. They're not necessarily going to put a whole lot of money behind this. Again, because they don't want the focus to be on Iraq on these final days. In fact, you continue to see Republican candidates coming out against the president and Iraq. In Washington state, the Republican Senate candidate Michael McGavick has put out an ad in this final week: "President Bush doesn't get our frustrations on Iraq." Just about every Republican senator in a competitive race is saying Donald Rumsfeld has to go. Iraq is the problem for Republican candidates now.