JOHN KERRY has won the backing of “the most trusted man in America” — Walter Cronkite, the former CBS News anchor.

Interviewed on ITV by Jonathan Dimbleby, Mr Cronkite, 88, added that the election is “one of the most important since the Civil War in the mid-19th century”. He is voting for Mr Kerry “because I think that (Mr Bush) is so committed to the Iraq enterprise that we will be delayed in getting out of there far beyond what I think the terminal date should be”. Interview ed on CNN, he even suggested that Karl Rove, Mr Bush’s political Svengali, orchestrated Osama bin Laden’s re-emergence last Friday night.

THE ghouls of Hallowe’en brought good news for Mr Bush. For the past six elections a candidate won the White House if his Hallowe’en mask outsold his competitor’s. New York’s Cesar, the largest maker of Hallowe’en masks, has sold 42,000 Bush and Kerry masks, with Mr Bush outselling Mr Kerry by 500.

THE anti-Kerry group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the Vietnam veterans who claimed that Mr Kerry lied his way to his war medals, has spawned imitators. Pleasure Boat Captains for Truth challenges the line that President Bush is a reformed partygoer. Its advert states that Mr Bush “claims he was a reckless, irresponsible drunk. Truth is, the man couldn’t hold his liquor. George Bush was no party animal.” There are also Cheerleaders for Truth, who want to know if Mr Bush really did cheer for Yale, and Rugby Players for Truth, allegedly showing Mr Bush — who played rugby at Yale from 1964-68 — landing a right hook on an opponent.

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