The U.S. Presidential Campaign Kicks into High Gear

Posted on September 3, 2004

Polls taken just after the close of the Republican Convention show President Bush getting a robust bounce in the polls: both Newsweek and Time show Bush ahead of Kerry by 11 points. Before the convention, which effectively pounded home the message that only President Bush can keep our grandchildren safe from terrorists, the polls were too close to call. Some pollsters are saying that those numbers could flatten back out again in the coming weeks, especially if Kerry decides to abandon his gentlemanly style of campaigning and go for the jugular.

All signs do point to Kerry having made a fundamental shift in his campaign style. Immediately after the addition of Joe Lockhart to the campaign, the Kerry Rapid Response Team shifted into action. During the Republican convention, Terry McAuliffe roamed a room of fact checkers who monitored the Republicans' speeches for accuracy. When distortions of Kerry's record were found, McAuliffe emailed his rebuttal to the media -- oftentimes just as the speech in question ended. The wild-eyed oratory by Zell Miller generated so many Democratic corrections and talking points, it's a wonder that the Rapid Response Team didn't develop Actue Carpal Tunnel Syndrome on the spot.

But the best part of Zell Miller's performance wasn't his speech on Wednesday night; it was on Hardball with Chris Matthews. After Matthews asked Miller if he really thought that Senator Kerry would try to defend the United States against Al-Qaeda using only spitballs, Miller became enraged and actually challenged Matthews to a duel. He was actually shocked that Matthews had the audacity to challenge him on a talking point -- that Kerry is weak on defense. It was an easy question to answer for someone who had done his research. Ed Gillespie certainly could have answered it. Well, I say kudos to Chris Matthews for finally asking some hard questions. I just hope he's well-versed in the etiquette of dueling.