Wow. My first day blogging and somebody found me within hours of my first post. I hadn't even got around to telling anybody about my blog.

I think I want to respond to the comment from my first post.

James, you call the race a dead heat, and then link to 3 polls that show Bush ahead by 7%, 9%, and 11%. A double digit lead is a dead heat?

If the nation is "united in hating George Bush" how come he has that huge lead? The nation's pulse doesn't match the propaganda you are hearing because the organizations you mentioned are anything but grass-roots. They are well-funded 527s just like the Swift-Boat Veterans.

Yes, the extreme left wing hates George W Bush more vehemently and vocally than any president in a long time, and the extreme right wing hates John Kerry, too, but elections are not decided by the partisans and extremists. They are decided by the moderates and independents. And the more Michael Moore and moveon.org are mainstreamed by Kerry's campaign, the more the moderates and independents feel like we don't fit in with the hatred.

The democratic party has become too exclusively left-wing and moderates are left out. The reason John Kerry can't win is because he doesn't appeal to the moderates. He tries to portray himself as a moderate and a war hero, but his voting record in the Senate and his war protest activities make it impossible to believe.

On the other hand, it looks like George W Bush will get more votes in California than any Republican candidate has here for decades, and I think a lot of the reason for that is the Republican party seems to be the place where moderates are welcome these days, due in large part to the popularity of a Republican governor who happens to be... a moderate.