Bush Camp Rattled By Kerry Surge

[Nbadan]

Campaigning in Iowa, a critical battleground state, President George Bush was his cheerful old self yesterday as he signed a new law bringing in another round of tax cuts.

Watched by a row of wholesome young Midwestern families, the President looked right at home. "It's a beautiful day here in Iowa," he said beaming, "Iowa is such a beautiful place."

There was no trace of the scowling, growling candidate who scared children during last week's presidential debate when he faced his rival John Kerry and came off second best. But while Mr Bush has been out on the road beaming from ear to ear, his top campaign officials have stopped smiling. A deluge of post-debate polls show Mr Bush knocked from his comfortable lead and Senator Kerry closing the gap.

<snip>

A week ago, Mr Bush's political right-hand man, Karl Rove, dubbed "boy genius" by the President, was telling the conservative Washington Times that Senator Kerry was on the run and the battleground state of Ohio was about to fall to Mr Bush. The campaign there, he said, was as "strong as an acre of garlic". But on the night of the presidential debate, it was Mr Bush who was on the defensive.

And when Mr Rove tried to tell reporters that Mr Bush had turned in a solid performance and Senator Kerry had put in his "worst", he was met with incredulity. One reporter asked, "Can you say that with a straight face?"

...more...

The Age (http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/10/05/1096949508511.html?oneclick=true)

:rollin

Classic!

[Spurminator]

Yeah, it looks like they're in shambles... hee hee.

WTF?

[Nbadan]

Considering that W can't even win a bias poll like Gallup, I think the W camp has a lot to worry about.

[Nbadan]

Rasmussen 3 day tracking..

Date Bush Kerry
Today 47.9 47.0
Oct 4 48.6 46.1
Oct 3 49.0 45.4

[Nbadan]

Bush readies 'significant speech'

By Bill Sammon
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

President Bush, stung by the erosion of his lead over Sen. John Kerry in post debate polls, has abruptly scheduled a major speech for tomorrow in hopes of halting Mr. Kerry's momentum.

In a rare, last-minute alteration to the presidential schedule, Mr. Bush has scrapped a planned talk on medical liability and instead will give what the White House called a "significant speech" about the two central issues of the campaign — the war on terrorism and the economy.

The president is said to be eager to rebut Mr. Kerry's attacks on such issues, especially those that came during Thursday's presidential debate.

"There has been an attempt by the president's opponent to launch false attacks and mislead the American people on these big priorities," White House press secretary Scott McClellan told reporters aboard Air Force One. "There are some big differences facing the American people, and the president wants to highlight those differences."

The Kerry campaign was delighted that the Massachusetts Democrat has forced the president into reactive mode.

Kerry spokesman Phil Singer ridiculed Mr. Bush's decision to give a major speech, which will be delivered in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.

"George Bush has spent the last few months resorting to half-truths on the stump. Now he's going the whole way," he said. "A president needs to be forthcoming and straightforward about his polices, and if the last few days are any indication, Wednesday's speech will be neither."

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I think it's also funny that when you put Bush unchallenged on stage, he'll ramble on and on about whatever nonsense he wishes to spew. But when put in front of 60+ million potential voters and face-to-face with Kerry, he shows his true colors and wimps out.

This "significant speech" is nothing more than the GOP playing up this rally speech to get it on television. Knowing that he will go unchallenged up on that stage, he will hope to win back those swing voters he lost. Kerry needs to immediately respond the moment he gets off the stage.

[Marcus Bryant]

Interestingly this great Kerry surge hasn't shown up at the state level.

[RobinsontoDuncan]

ultimatly we may see another electoral college victory yet pouplar vote loss for bush

[Yonivore]

ultimatly we may see another electoral college victory yet pouplar vote loss for bush
Nope. It'll be a clear, decisive Bush victory. I predict (and have been doing so since February) a landslide victory for Bush, 10 points or better.

[Nbadan]

The polls are drastically undercounting the affect of new and younger voters. Not to mention that most polls I have seen tend to be leaning towards a republican majority in the 2004 vote, a mischaracterization of gigantic proportions. Ultimately, it is my belief that Kerry will win by a convincing margin (>5-8 points) riding the wave of new and younger voters.

[whottt]

You automatically assume that todays youth will follow the same trend of the past few decades and have a liberal antiwar slant.

I don't think that's guranteed to be true...these kids have a much simpler view of the world than you...they see it was fucking terrorists that attacked us...I think the fact that terrorists get on TV and talk about declaring war on America and the idea that they want to get a nuclear weapon and use it here in the states...I think the fact that there are dozens of videos circulating the internet that show terrorists beheading innocent men. I think that will be a very powerful factor in how they vote.

You must realize, the modern day liberal mindset of, blame the victim, defend the guilty, and hate America with all your heart, takes years of drug use and sucess driven guilt to achieve.

I don't think the younger voters will be at that stage yet...

Plus kids are rebellious, every few generations they rebel against popular opinion and form their own ideals about the world. The 60's saw a total rebellion against the longstanding conservative view in America, including the media...Well for the past 30 years liberalism and anti war has been the popular view in America...these kids are just as capable of rebelling against liberalism as they were against conservatism...it happens. Liberalism is the old guard vision now, it is also the media focus continually forcefed to us...The parents of todays young voters were those same antiwar peace freaks...don't be surprised if the younger voters rebel against the cliched(and out of touch with todays reality) liberal/anti war mindset.