No, it's not a prospective 2008 matchup. Not even the Democrats are that crazy. It's a showdown on the airwaves and in the Globe over the war on terror, and our guy won:

The terrorist attack foiled by British authorities prompted a battle of words yesterday between a pair of presidential contenders from Massachusetts, with Governor Mitt Romney lashing out at Senator John F. Kerry for suggesting that the war in Iraq has harmed the nation's security.

Kerry, the Democrats' 2004 presidential nominee, seized on news of the disrupted plot as a "stark reminder" that Osama bin Laden remains at large and said it shows that Al Qaeda has "grown in strength" since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

"Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda have succeeded in isolating the United States," Kerry, a Democrat, said during a conference call organized on behalf of Patrick Murphy, a Democratic candidate in a Pennsylvania House race. "Afghanistan and Pakistan are where the fight against Al Qaeda is, not in Iraq."

Asked about Kerry's comments during an appearance on the MSNBC cable network, Romney blasted Kerry. The governor said the senator failed to recognize that the United States is locked in a long-term war against terrorists and that Iraq is a central front.

"I think it shows a complete lack of understanding of the kind of enemy that we're facing," said Romney, a Republican. "This is not a small group of wackos in the hills that all we have to do is go find one person and it suddenly goes away."

The exchange was one of the few times that Romney and Kerry, both of whom are contemplating 2008 presidential runs, have tangled publicly on a national issue since Kerry lost his White House run to George Bush in 2004.

For more on why we are so concerned about this issue, see "Why We Support Mitt" and "A Better Communicator."