DougR, I hate to burst your bubble but pollsters were not expecting a dramatic bump in the numbers for either the Democratic or Republican convention. You are quoting some of the same "speak" that the conservative talk shows have been dishing out this week. Unfortunately, they aren't looking at the whole story.

This year, candidates were decided many months before either convention. This election is much different from previous elections in that there are fewer undecided voters. Bush has polarized voters, and any pollster will tell you that. It truly is too close to call.

Remember Michael Dukakis? After the 1988 Democratic Convention his numbers increased by 17%.   You can look up where he finished. In August 2000 Al Gore was looking at 39% rating in the polls compared to 53% for George W. Gore actually won the popular vote. And of course, we all remember President Dewey.

The interesting item is that Bush's bump was as high as it is. In normal years, you would have seen a higher post convention jump for either candidate, but as I pointed out above, there are reasons why that wasn't expected.   Bush's jump is aligned more with the failure of the Kerry campaign to get beyond Vietnam and get their message out. If anything, this poll is a wakeup call.   It is too early for Kerry to start picking out drapes for the White House and it is way to early for Bush to start picking out bands for the Inaugural Ball.`

Conservatives can enjoy this little moment, but we are only in the 5th inning of a 1 run ballgame.