By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, March 22, 2004; Page C01

George Bush still wears a dunce cap.

And John Kerry is one strange-looking dude.

That, at least, is the way late-night comedians are portraying the presidential rivals.

"President Bush admitted that his prewar intelligence wasn't what it should have been," Jay Leno said. "We knew that when we elected him."

As for Kerry, "his poll numbers are moving, donations are moving, endorsements are moving," Leno said. "The only thing not moving about John Kerry -- his hair. His hair does not move."

Scoff if you must, but the musings of Leno, David Letterman, Jon Stewart and Conan O'Brien may have as much to do with shaping the candidates' public personas as a ton of newspaper stories, magazine features and cable arguments. Plus, not everyone watches Rather, Brokaw, Jennings and Lehrer.

In Washington, of course, everything must be studied and scrutinized. So the Center for Media and Public Affairs has divined that Bush remains the biggest late-night target -- the butt of 213 jokes from Jan. 1 through March 9 -- compared with 53 for Kerry (who barely beat the 43 jibes aimed at Dennis Kucinich). Even in February, when Kerry was surging to the nomination, it was Bush hands down, 121 to 25.

"The president will always be the biggest butt of the jokesters -- he's the political-humor J. Lo," the center's Matthew Felling says.

But this is one contest where winning amounts to losing: 94 percent of the jokes about intelligence, and 89 percent about honesty, involved the president. Kerry drew nearly half the cracks aimed at a candidate's appearance. Leno said that Senate office buildings shut down after the mailing of a white powdery substance: "At first they thought it was another one of John Kerry's Botox deliveries."

Bush's other vulnerabilities at that hour, according to the report: his military service and his credibility on Iraq.

Letterman said of Bush's campaign ads: "In one of the commercials you see George W. Bush for 30 seconds. In another commercial you get to see George W. Bush for 60 seconds. Kind of like his stint in the National Guard."

Leno said that Oscar nominations had gone to Sean Penn, Jude Law "and, of course, George W. Bush for 'Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction.' "

Kerry gets needled on his wealth and reputation for flip-flopping. Letterman: "Senator John Kerry changed his mind and now supports the ban on gay marriages. I'm telling you, this guy has more positions than Paris Hilton." Leno: "Senator John Kerry released his plan to fight the deficit. He said all we have to do is find a rich country, like Switzerland, and have it marry us."

These are, you may have gathered, caricatures. But in a sound-bite world, caricatures matter.