Faith in Kerry: Is it justified?

I thought I'd write a diary gauging the recent mood I've felt and sensed among others here following the downturn in the polls and the after(?)math of the swift boat liars.

I have to confess that it was not long ago that I thought that Kerry's handling of the Swifties was political genius; waiting until they're discredited, condemning MoveOn's ad at McCain's request while W refused to, and tying, (successfuly it seems) Which brings me to my main point: when the Kerry counterattack was mounted and the days that followed my faith that Kerry and his campaign really knew what they were doing blossomed. I was really confident that they had everything sized up and a response for every predictable move Rove & co. would pull. Today, I feel less strongly. I still have faith, but today "faith" is a much better characterization because I feel like I believe it but I couldn't muster a knockout argument to back it up. Going into the RNC the polls are trending back towards even and Bush has taken the lead in a good number of them. Given the risk of the protesters, or just a simple post-convention bounce, Bush doesn't quite seem to be "exactly where we want him."

Or is he?

Obviously, nobody in the Kerry campaign would complain if their candidate held a 5-point lead in the polls and an 100-point electoral college advantage. But doesn't this situation, as of the end of the RNC, place Kerry exactly where he has proven to be the most effective: in striking distance coming down the homestretch?

With Kerry leading, as he was, by little more than the margin of error, I feel like we got a fairly conservative campaign. Now, when he is going to have to kick off his slippers, I really feel he has a chance to really take advantage.

And I don't necessarily mean going dirty, although a few 'swift' attacks at W's soft underbelly might not hurt. I mean taking the gloves off and start campaigning like your life depends on it, even if it's still the same points on the same employment and healthcare issues. There's a lot of ammo left, Kerry has barely begun to unleash what he can on Bush.

How will he go about doing it? I don't know, that's really the point of this idea of having faith in the Kerry campaign. Despite the little downswing in recent days both in polls and mood, I feel a renewed faith that Kerry/Edwards are going to grab this elephant by the tusks in a devastatingly effective way in the closing weeks of this campaign and we'll be back to asking ourselves whether or not Kerry will be able to win 350 electoral votes or not.

Viva la Kerry!