Defeated 2004 presidential candidate John Kerry has called for President Bush to bring home 20,000 U.S. troops in Iraq before Christmas:

“It will be hard for this administration, but it is essential to acknowledge that the insurgency will not be defeated unless our troop levels are drawn down … starting immediately after successful elections in December,” Kerry, D-Mass., said in a speech Wednesday at Georgetown University.

This represents a major position shift for Kerry, who advocated sending more troops while running for president, and as recently as June 30 said we didn’t have enough troops in Iraq.

The consensus on the Left has increasingly argued the U.S. should withdraw from Iraq. Think Kerry might be mulling another run in 2008?