newline doesn't have whitespace syntax?

[John Conrad]

When I read this in the elisp manual:

"Space, tab, newline and formfeed are classified as whitespace in almost all major modes."
(35.2.1 Table of Syntax Classes)
 
I assumed that this re-search-forward _expression_ would match the line following it, but no dice.

(re-search-forward "abcd[[:space:]]")
abcd

I've tried several different modes, including fundamental mode. Am I missing something?

Using Emacs 22.0.50.1

John Emerson Conrad