Kim, I think that's what Kerry did in his speech last night ("Here's why you should vote for ME," instead of "Here's why you shouldn't vote for my opponent."). In fact, the general thrust of the Convention was not to attack Bush (although there was plenty of allusion to Republican policies, especialy by Al Sharpton), but outline and detail why people should vote for Kerry. Kerry even chanllenged Bush to keep the campaign positive and not descend into negativity and personal attacks.

This was one of the underlying themes of the Democratic National Convention, and many people (including me) thought it was a mistake not to attack Bush hammer and tongs. But it may not be a mistake at all. Bush now has his choice of trying to keep it positive (as Kerry challenged him to do) and talk about his accomplishments (which is going to be hard to do without people rolling their eyes), or staying negative and continuing the anti-Kerry campaign he's used so far. My guess is that Bush is going to continue the negative stuff, and it's probably going to lose him some votes from people who are sick and disgusted by that kind of campaigning. But what else has he got?

Don Firth