Kerry On Iraq

John Kerry is slowly clarifying his position on Iraq, and he has some idea of what to do about it if elected President, but he has to demonstrate George W. Bush's mishandling of the situation there more sharply. Fortunately, Bush is giving Kerry plenty of assistance; not only will Bush admit that Iraq is in turmoil as a result of his war, but he refuses to release a CIA report that shows how badly the war has deteriorated and how worse it is expected to become. Plus, despite the quadrupling of insurgents in Iraq, the lack of control of Fallujah, and the growing number of attacks on U.S. troops - up 100% since last winter - Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi insists that the coalition and his government are winning the war. Will Kerry be able to drive these points home and still find a way to encourage voters to take a chance on a new President and a fresh start?

Meanwhile, Kerry is still in his own quagmire; he's made some gains against Bush in the polls, but he seems to have stalled somewhat. Joe Lockhart, the former Clinton White House press secretary and now an aide to Kerry, may have made an inappropriate contact with the gentleman responsible for the unauthenticated documents about Bush's Air Guard service that were given to CBS. And ironically, even as Kerry is finding his voice figuratively, he's lost it literally. He has laryngitis.

Just remember, though - it's not over yet. Kerry is still doing better than some folks suspected he'd be doing now. And he is a good closer.