THE FINAL DEBATE

I missed the first third of the debate due to work, but from what I saw (and later read about Bush's denial of saying he wasn't concerned about bin Laden), Kerry continued to rise in stature as Bush attempted (yet again) to moderate his behavior. (Perhaps there really is little difference between Bush and Gore, after all.) We leave the debates with the media and comics joking about the bulge in Bush's back and his speaking patterns -- with just over two weeks to go, he's the focus of ridicule and his opponent is making a better impression than he did at his convention.

Bush's strategy of appealing to his base and ceding the middle to Kerry is very risky, and will only work if the systematic attempts by the RNC to disenfranchise thousands of voters in several states are successful...and given how great the upswing in registration this year is, they'd better hope they can get 60-75% of the new voters off the rolls. Even then, Kerry may have convinced enough of the middle that he should be in charge.

The head-to-head is done. Now the mud flies and the machines roll out to get the folks to the ballot box.