Kerry is also bombing in the polls. For goodness sake, the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll shows that only 39% of those planning to vote for Kerry like him or are enthusiastic about him being president. In fact, Peter Jennings even referred to as the "Anybody But Bush" problem coming back to haunt him on tonight's news.

If this election is Kerry's to lose, so far he is doing a great job of losing it. That is all I'm saying. This doesn't have anything to do with what Bush/Cheney sleaze story is currently being thrown at Kerry/Edwards. Bush/Cheney went way over the dirty politics line decades ago. Everybody knows that.

What isn't so good is that not everyone who hates Bush is actually going to vote against him in November by voting for Kerry. They may just vote against Bush by staying home, if Kerry can't get his act together, and fast.

How bad is it? Here's a few blurbs from the Post article on the poll:

"For the first time in a Post-ABC news poll this year, a majority of likely voters now say they plan to vote for Bush. Among those most likely to vote in November, Bush holds a 52 percent to 43 percent lead over Kerry, with independent Ralph Nader receiving 2 percent of the hypothetical vote. Among all registered voters, Bush leads Kerry 50 percent to 44 percent."

The convention bounce for Bush was roughly equivalent to Kerry's (4 points for Bush), so that isn't enough to account for Kerry plummeting in the polls. Sure, he plummeted as a result of the Republican attack dogs. But why didn't he attack back? Did the campaign staff go on vacation for the month of August, or what?