Paris - Lawyers for Democrat presidential candidate John F. “Frenchy” Kerry say that the Massachusetts senator will now delay accepting his party’s nomination until after the election in November.

“This is a very smart move,” said Herman Finsterbinder, a lawyer in private practice who was formerly on the legal staff of the Federal Elections Commission. “This allows Kerry to avoid all legal restrictions on his campaign, and if he loses the vote he can say that it really didn’t count since he had never received the nomination in the first place.”

Lawyers for the Republican National Committee are crying foul play. “This is a legal and moral outrage,” said Robert L. Schneider III, chief counsel for the RNC. “This is a deliberate attempt to circumvent the letter and spirit of our nation’s laws. And it just smells funny—like Boston Harbor on a warm summer night or a group of Mr. Kerry’s French friends who refuse to wear deodorant.”

The Kerry campaign responded to Mr. Schneider’s remarks by pointing out that great strides have been made in cleaning up Boston Harbor. The campaign did admit that most French people do smell kind of funny.