The notion that John Kerry could have ever been even with Bush in rural areas is laughable -- or the survey was exclusively conducted in Indian Reservations and some odd clusters along the Mississipi River...

Essentially all of this poll was done before the events in Spain reminded everyone that, yes, this is a war.

Except John Kerry, who apparently prefers the term "global battle."

Even worse for Kerry: the Democratic turnout in the primaries has been pretty much pathetic, except for a couple of states. Where is the angry base? The unions collapsed in Iowa, the college vote never materialized anywhere, and the sophisticated suburbanites stayed home.

When people are calling for Kerry to pick John Glenn as V-P because it might help him win Ohio, things are in sad shape. Glenn is even older than Mondale.

Watch for the media frenzy if Kerry picks Tom Brokaw (see John Fund's latest). At that point, all barriers would be gone. But Tom Daschle would approve.

Momentum and image are important in politics. The past week or so nervous nellie GOPers (who should know better) started to distance themselves from Bush based on the polls. The stronger Bush looks the less likely they will be to stray.
Timothy's point is a good one - the attack in Spain should have reminded everyone that there is a WOT and be a benefit to Bush.
And to Jim's point it is possible the next action by Kerry to generate some media attention will probably be his VP pick.

AWW: I don't disagree with you about the VP pick. But July in Boston is a long time to wait for a popularity bump (which will likely follow the Dem convention regardless of VP pick). What does the French-looking gentleman do in the meantime while watching his popularity drift into the high-30's?

The first thing he has to do is stop changing accents and inflections - the press may not hound him about his flipping/flopping, but they will not let go of his snarls on the fly, especially when he tries to sound like a union local.

I would suspect that from now through November Kerry's face-time of TV will be almost equal to that of Bush's. If he spends all that time playing the dour scold even if positive reports come in about the economy and/or the war on terror, it's hard to see how that type of personality is going to play well with the American public (especially if he goes to the Fleet Center and gives something like Carter's malaise speech during the DNC convention).

Resignation from the Senate first, then a woman vp.