Democratic congressional candidate Bruce Braley says it’s time for a cease fire in the war of words that erupted over comments made by 2004 Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry’s comments.

Braley was to appear with Kerry in Davenport on Thursday. But Braley asked Kerry not to come because Kerry said if you don’t “study hard and do your homework” you’ll “get stuck in Iraq.”

“I believe that Senator Kerry’s brief statement was inappropriate and I believe that the Bush White House and Senate Kerry need to stop their partisan bickering,” Braley says. “The partisan back-and-forth is getting us nowhere. American citizens are tired of that.”

Braley says it’s time to move on, and that’s why he asked Kerry not to campaign with him on Thursday. “We made the decision that we wanted to keep the focus of this campaign on the issues that are important to the voters of this district,” Braley says. “…We knew that if Senator Kerry was part of the discussion, the focus would not be on these important issues.”

Iowa Republicans issued a statement this morning, demanding that Iowa Democrats who’ve gotten campaign donations from Kerry give the money back in protest.

Here’s what Kerry said at a campaign rally in California on Monday: “You know, education, if you make the most of it and you study hard and you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can well. If you don’t you get stuck in Iraq.”

On Tuesday, Kerry said that was his attempt to make a joke about President Bush. Kerry said as a veteran he would never criticize the troops. President Bush and other Republicans have demanded that Kerry apologize. Kerry has now canceled all his campaign appearances between now and election day.