Kerry In Trouble?

John Kerry has had a lot of trouble getting his mojo working of late. He failed to attack the Swift Boat character assassination ads against him because his presidential campaign handlers - okay, Mary Beth Cahill, his campaign manager (oh, sure, blame a woman!) - told him not to dignify them with a repsonse, lest he only give them more attention. But conservative political talk show hosts on Fox did just that, and the Republicans followed with a vicious convention attacking Kerry's character. In any other year this meanness of spirit would have turned off voters, but in a year when security against the threat of terrorism is an issue and people are looking for a tough, nasty hombre to protect us from terrorism, it proved to be a perfect way to produce a surge in the polls for George W. Bush - especially when John Kerry can't get his Iraq policy straight. :-O On top of that, Kerry's attempts to fight back have been met with derision from a jaded news media establishment, and Kerry's own aides have admitted that they've had a hard time focusing on a consistent message.

There have been some bright spots, though. Kerry has hammered Bush repeatedly on the economy and last night's expiration of the assault weapons ban, and tracking polls show that Bush, while still leading, is losing momentum gained from the convention. Kerry has only begun to fight, and the debates are still ahead; it ain't over yet.

The good news is that Kerry will have the votes of every intelligent American voter come November 2.

The bad news is that he still needs a majority. :-O (Apologies to the memory of Adlai E. Stevenson!)