John Kerry, who plucked defeat from the jaws of victory in the 2004 presidential campaign, has announced that he will not run again in 2008.

Kerry was last in the news for unleashing an ill-timed firestorm of criticism just before the mid-term election by telling college students that they’ll “get stuck in Iraq” if they don’t work hard in school.

He later issued the inevitable clarification, explaining that the remark was a “botched joke” meant to target the president, not U.S. troops. Ha, ha, ha. And then relievedly excused himself from further campaigning.

Let’s get this straight: In 2004, Kerry ran the worst presidential campaign since Michael Dukakis in 1988 and handed the election to Bush, who by most rights should have lost. Kerry was utterly unable to craft a message, let alone stay on it.

There was nothing to suggest that anything would be different in 2008 if the Democrats decided to nominated him. According to one report, the fallout from the botched joke may have actually turned his head around and made him realize that he faced a long slog against a formidable field of rivals.

Kerry said he will seek a fifth term as a senator from Massachusetts.

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