In all honesty this is typical of any Kerry campaign. He generally slumps for a while and then finishes strong. His primary performance was classic Kerry.

He's not and never was a ball of fire as a public speaker. He's a quiet guy and he is most comfortable expressing himself in an eloquent yet reserved manor. It's been obvious to me that they have done a lot of work with him as far as presentation goes. He's not a guy that smiles a lot when hashing over the issues and as many pointed out he's got a face of stone. It would be easy to add to Mount Rushmore or among those found on Easter Island.

So, they've had him smiling up a storm and trying to get him to be more animated in his public appearances. It's out of character for him to scream, shout, and wave his arms though...just ain't his thing. You may have noticed he's slipped into a pattern when he's giving those talks where he's supposed to be coming across as all fired up. He sounds strained when he's supposed to sound angry and you can see it looks like he's acting.

Well, at least I can. I've seen the guy enough over the years to know that's not his deal. I'd prefer they just let him be himself but what people want I think is a guy that's as angry as they are. There's a lot of Democrats that want a guy that's gonna be angry and vicious. They claim they can't afford a candidate that's "too nice" or that won't attack, attack, attack.

When he was wrapping up the primary deal his campaign was pushing all this stuff about how he was gonna be tough, he was gonna be a fighter, he was gonna match Bush attack for attack. Pure smoke to soothe the Democrats that want a campaign as dirty as the Bush campaign. You have to realize there were people on the left that really liked the Dean approach and were worried about Kerry. That he wouldn't play dirty and get down in the mud with Rove and his ilk. Well, they were right.

That's part of why some people don't want Edwards on a Kerry ticket. Two nice guys that don't believe in playing dirty would be too much. Personally this is the side of politics I can't stand.

Remember, before Iowa they had wrote Kerry off. Then he crushed everybody and had the nomination sealed up before anyone thought possible. We're at a lull right now and there's a lot on the table for Bushco that they have not been dealing well with and seem unable to get a handle on. Once Kerry chooses his running mate and we move into the summer things will change.

By all accounts Bush should be crushing Kerry in the polls right now and should have been since they caught Saddam. Hasn't been the case though. The Bush campaign has been a train wreck and they've handled everything thrown at them in the worst possible way.

I think you have to look at how these guys campaign. Kerry starts slow and finishes strong. The Bush-Rove machine works to devastate their opponent with smut they release in waves. The Bush-Rove method has been a problem so far this year because they've had so much they've had to answer for themselves.

Look at what they did to McCain during the 2000 campaign...

Spread rumors he had a black love child.

Spread rumors he was gay.

Spread rumors he was insane.

Printed up and distributed material that said his wife was a drug addict.

They hit him with all this stuff and made McCain look like he didn't know if he was coming or going. McCain had to answer for all this stuff even though it wasn't true because he had to try to define himself for the voters.

This year the Bush-Rove machine hit Kerry with a sex with an intern...it failed. Have charged that his campaign is coordinating with groups like Moveon.org...failed. Tried to say his campaign manager was involved with a "memo-gate"...failed. Attacked his service to his country in Vietnam...failed. Showed photos of him with Jane Fonda...failed. Created a photo using photoshop (Kevin G can tell you how that works) of Kerry and Fonda on stage together (it was a fake)...also failed. Tryed to claim he pulled a Bush and got out of his service to his country 6 months early...failed. I can only guess they will soon spread rumors he's gay, he's got a black love child, and he came back from the 'Nam insane.

Now the Bush attack on Kerry as far as politics goes is based on only two things...

He'll raise taxes. (Not what Kerry's plan says)

He's weak on defense. (Another distortion)

Basically this campaign is Bushco's to lose. So, far they seem to be giving it away. If Kerry can assemble the sort of push he seems to come up with near the end and chooses a running mate that helps him...well Bush and company need to worry.  

As far as polls go...who cares until October they are meaningless and just designed to give the news guys something to talk about.