Gore has made significant gains since the debate. Voters clearly do not like it when Bradley goes negative,

I learned in the first poll we conducted after 9/11 that Americans still want their wars to be quick, they want them won and they want them over so the troops can come home, ... It's curious, but right now there's a mixed message coming out of Washington. The generals are saying we'll begin some troop withdrawal come hell or high water in 2006, but the president is saying we're going to stay there with as much force as we need until we get the job done. It's a contradiction.

It's time for symbolic gestures. The president is going to have to do a lot more than a 25-minute flyover.

For a fledgling presidential campaign, this isn't the best kickoff.

It's not his finest hour. The buck stops right there with him. The president did not meet a benchmark that he himself set for crisis leadership.

It's a hard time to be in government right now. You are going into November with an unusually sizeable number of weakened incumbents. It looks like you have two political parties this year that are hell-bent on losing.

This is a supreme test of Bush's leadership at a time when resources are thin and his approval ratings are perilously low.

This is a wounded president right now. He doesn't have public opinion at his back. He can't ask too much of Congress because they are already worried about their own re-election.

That's what makes this story so ironic. I guess you can't have it both ways.

The breadth and depth of the Home Depot victory over Lowe's is pretty substantial,