I think this would be a good time for the Democrats (Kerry) to emphasize a major difference between the parties. The Republicans are the party of the rich and powerful. The Democrats are the party of the common, working man.
I think by now it is pretty obvious to even the least well-informed among the electorate that the prisoner abuse in Iraq was promoted by this administration's policies (e.g., Patriot Act, locating Gitmo off US soil, disregard for the Geneva Convention, etc.). But, instead of making high level administrators or commanders accountable for the atrocities resulting from these actions and policies, this administration and their Republican supporters (the rich & powerful) are attempting to shift the entire blame to low-level reservists (the common, working man).
By making this point very strongly in political ads and ongoing Democratic talking points, I believe we finally have something that will appeal to the so-called "Red Staters" who have, until now, ignored this basic difference between the two parties, and only focused on Republican-style wedge issues (e.g., anti-abortion, anti-affirmative action, etc.). At the risk of sounding condescending, I think that this "us versus them" (common, working man versus rich and powerful) approach would have much more appeal to the "Red Staters" than continually attempting to convince them rationally that it's not in their economic or social interest to vote Republican.
As much as I dislike the "us versus them" mentality (itself a wedge issue), I think the stakes are now high enough that this strategy should be employed. And, of course, their is a great deal of truth in this basic difference between the two parties.