diff -r d1aa8a9eba44 Lib/argparse.py
--- a/Lib/argparse.py	Wed May 01 14:13:05 2013 +0300
+++ b/Lib/argparse.py	Thu May 02 12:12:26 2013 -0400
@@ -470,7 +470,7 @@
         text = _re.sub(r' (%s)' % close, r'\1', text)
         text = _re.sub(r'%s *%s' % (open, close), r'', text)
         text = _re.sub(r'\(([^|]*)\)', r'\1', text)
-        text = text.strip()
+        text = _re.sub( '\s+', ' ', text ).strip()
 
         # return the text
         return text
diff -r d1aa8a9eba44 Lib/test/test_argparse.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_argparse.py	Wed May 01 14:13:05 2013 +0300
+++ b/Lib/test/test_argparse.py	Thu May 02 12:12:26 2013 -0400
@@ -2425,6 +2425,7 @@
         add('--spam', action='store_true', help=argparse.SUPPRESS)
         add('--badger', action='store_false', help=argparse.SUPPRESS)
         add('--bladder', help=argparse.SUPPRESS)
+        parser.add_argument('--' + 'eggs' * 20, dest='eggs')
         return parser
 
     failures = [
@@ -2433,23 +2434,25 @@
         '--bladder B --spam',
     ]
     successes = [
-        ('--spam', NS(spam=True, badger=True, bladder=None)),
-        ('--badger', NS(spam=False, badger=False, bladder=None)),
-        ('--bladder B', NS(spam=False, badger=True, bladder='B')),
-        ('--spam --spam', NS(spam=True, badger=True, bladder=None)),
+        ('--spam', NS(spam=True, badger=True, bladder=None, eggs=None)),
+        ('--badger', NS(spam=False, badger=False, bladder=None, eggs=None)),
+        ('--bladder B', NS(spam=False, badger=True, bladder='B', eggs=None)),
+        ('--spam --spam', NS(spam=True, badger=True, bladder=None, eggs=None)),
     ]
     successes_when_not_required = [
-        ('', NS(spam=False, badger=True, bladder=None)),
+        ('', NS(spam=False, badger=True, bladder=None, eggs=None)), 
     ]
 
     usage_when_required = usage_when_not_required = '''\
         usage: PROG [-h]
-        '''
+                    [--{eggs} EGGS]
+        '''.format(eggs=('eggs' * 20))
     help = '''\
 
         optional arguments:
-          -h, --help  show this help message and exit
-        '''
+          -h, --help            show this help message and exit
+          --{eggs} EGGS
+        '''.format(eggs=('eggs' * 20))
 
 
 class TestMutuallyExclusiveOptionalAndPositional(MEMixin, TestCase):