Or not.

Self doubt sets in.

Sometimes, of course, the convention wisdom is right -- a fact it's easy to lose sight of when you're just so damn unconventional. It seems that all those who thought the press wants desperately to write the Kerry comeback story were correct after all. Reporters don't want their November vacations, apparently. They want to spend a month eating at Perkins in Tallahassee. Okay, fine.

Of course, this can't really be blamed on the press. Yes, there was a pack reaction to Bush's performance in the debate, but that wouldn't have happened if he hadn't missed so many opportunities to put Kerry away. And while Kerry didn't even meet my expectations of him, the Bush campaign was so successful in August and September at lower people's estimation of Kerry that he couldn't help but look better than people expected he would.

But wait. Slow down. Some perspective, please. (They'll be plenty of time to panic next week.) For now, let's look at the positives. So far, the bad evidence is only the Newsweek poll. It could be the one in twenty that's completely wrong. (Sounding desperate.) And it was registered voters, not likely voters. (Really desperate.) Rasmussen's sample from Friday didn't show an appreciable Kerry bounce. (Wait until the news coverage sets in.). There's two more debates to reverse this dynamic. (Two more debates is a good thing for Bush?) And, anyway, all the coverage has been about Bush's facial expressions. But this isn't a personality contest. (I know, I know.)

Comments

[Jennifer]

Nice try ; )