I honestly don't see how Bush can get himself re-elected. Last time he ran to the centre as the happy, hopeful, aw-shucks candidate, who was going to keep government out of your life, let you keep your guns, give you a nice juicy tax cut and make sure "no child gits left behind." It was a really traditional-looking conservative platform fronted by a happy-go-lucky Texan. But even pulling 43% of
liberal leaning independents and facing an opponent taking big hits on the left, he couldn't actually win the election.
Now he's essentially forsaken that swing-vote centre and seems to be relying totally on a hard-sell to the right. It's all about fear: of terrorists, of gays, of abortions, of big-guv'ment Democrats. I don't think hard sells to the left or the right are ever effective general election strategies, but I guess Mr. "I Am a War President" doesn't have many options. He can't really promise another tax cut. NCLB is a big unfunded public-relations flop. If Kerry holds the centre, withstands the attacks gracefully and avoids being a total jackass (not that hard), I think he'll nail Bush's ass to the wall.
Even so, this article gave me the CREEPS. Read it and remind yourself how much you hate BushCo.
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/03/01/timep.bush.tm/index.html