Home Stretch

Well, here we are: crunch time.

For the first time in a long time, I actually feel that a majority of the public is sick of the Bush doctrine, economy, and incompetence.

The polls say it's a dead heat, with one or two again showing Bush with a single digit lead.

I can't help believing that the jump in voter registrations is bad for Bush. People don't go out of their way to register for the first time to maintain the status quo. At least, not under normal circumstances. Perhaps there are large numbers of fearful Americans registering to vote because a Kerry win means "we'll get hit again." Perhaps there are fundamentalist Christians who have drank the Kool-aid and believe God is in the White House and must be supported.

I doubt it.

I'm not wagering anything, however. It's just a feeling, nothing more. Despite many of my Republican friends and family saying they can't vote for Bush, I understand the siren song of conservatism is hard to resist. It's simple, and Bush is the perfect delivery vehicle for a simple message.

We can send our boys thousands of miles away to the dirty work for us, out of sight. In the face of job losses and runaway health care costs, we cut taxes. Instead of separating church and state, combine them (and the unspoken rule is, Christian church and state.)

So now it's a matter of who turns out at the polls. I'm hoping for such a large turnout of Democrats, that none of the Republican strategy of voter intimidation, challenges, or outright fraud will be successful.

If that happens, there could even be an electoral college landslide for Kerry.

I don't care if Bush wins the popular vote, and Kerry wins the electoral college: as long as the Supremes don't get involved this time. The benefit would be some real discussion about abandoning that outdated part of the Constitution.