Kakistocracy
The Vice Presidential debate comes tomorrow. A lot of people remarked, in the days following Edwards' nomination, how interesting a contrast would come in the debate, with Dick Cheney, the dour CEO, against Edwards, the sunny trial lawyer. The important reason the debate will be interesting is the contrast in the jobs of the two men. CEOs and Trial lawyers live in different worlds, and when they collide, you often see extremely interesting debates and conversations. I would expect the same tomorrow. Cheney is incredibly well versed, and his demeanor, well his demeanor is one that conveys seriousness all the time. Edwards is almost Clintonian in his ability to connect with the common man. That's why the Republicans did not want a town hall debate here. Instead, we again have a sit down format, as we did last time.

The polls, predictably, have narrowed a great deal. The shocking shift, is of course, the Newsweek poll, which showed an 11 point Bush lead after the Republican convention, and a 2 point Kerry lead now. While not all that is a result of the debate, a lot of it is simple attrition in the last month. Still its obvious the debate has changed a lot of people's mines about John Kerry. The trick is now to at least get a draw in the next two debates, enough so that momentum does not shift back to the President. After today, there are 29 days til the election. One debate Friday, plus another the following Thursday, and then the final furlong, to use a horse racing term. Its getting into nitty-gritty time. Everyone needs to do what they can, especially in Michigan, Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Iowa, to get Kerry elected. At this point, its difficult to see a landslide for anyone, this is where the ground game becomes important.