True, Kerry wouldn't look like Snoopy in a tank, but today's Kerry would probably bore the enemy to death.

Meanwhile, details of his military record are not as widely known as Kerry forces would like. The Bushies are successfully linking Kerry to all kinds of images (flip flop, French, weak on defense, contradictory on his war medals, etc.). So for the next three weeks Kerry's big TV offensive will continuously hammer home — what else? — info about his biography and his Vietnam military service. Some things:

(1) There have been ominous rumblings from various Democratic and media sources about Kerry's ability to win and gain back the momentum. Base support has begun to sag. He snatched the front-runner status away from Howard "I Have A Scream" Dean because Kerry looked like a winner. That imagery is slipping away due to an inept and tepid campaign.

(2) Defining a candidate works. Al Gore and Michael Dukakis waited until it was too late. Bill Clinton refused to let the GOP do it during his 1988 run. Kerry has reacted like Clinton but run a campaign like Gore's and Dukakis'.

(3) Kerry was on the defensive most of last week. Before that, Bush was on the defensive. The race is going to be a see-saw, right up to election day. Distrust all pundits.

(4) The country is almost evenly split, with Ralph Nader getting a tiny but election-changing chunk. So whoever wins the swing voters likely wins the election.The problem: there are an increasingly small number of actual swing voters.

(5) The biggest determining factor in this election is likely to be events beyond both candidates' control: the economy, another terrorist attack, the trends in Iraq from summer until election day. And the country is so evenly divided that any major event could shift the outcome, in either direction.