Reply #3: Like all such analyses, this fails to take into acct the voting machines.

[Stevepol]

Thus, they use Kerry as an example of how a "clear personal target" helps make a 72-hr campaign work, but the fact is that Kerry won the 04 election by a wide margin.

After the 06 cycle, the spin will as usual ignore the effect of the voting machines. I hope and pray that the Dems sweep Congress, but I doubt they will. They will most likely win a few races and the rest will "miraculously" be held by the Repubs despite pre-election polls and exit polls (if there are any) that show the contrary. The voting machines are too strong and not enough places have a required audit in place.

But of course the results will never be questioned by the WP or the NYT or anybody else when they start spinning explanations for the alleged "results."