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player ready...John Kerry’s debate performance and his bounce in the polls have Democrats in an upbeat mood for the first time in weeks.
Not since Kerry accepted his party’s presidential nomination in Boston in July have Democrats been this cheerful.
And Saturday night in Washington, D.C., amid reports that polls show Kerry having erased the double-digit lead Bush has had since Labor Day, they opened their pocketbooks, donating $6 million at a fundraiser the nominee attended.
“Something good is happening, whatever it is,” Kerry told an audience in this northeast Ohio community Sunday, his first stop in a full day of campaign events.
Bush allies sought to downplay the apparent effects of the debate performance.
“Look, Sen. Kerry was very polished, literally and figuratively.
“We anticipated that he would be a good debater,” Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie said Sunday on CNN.
Newsweek reported that the first of the three debates between Kerry and Bush had “erased the lead” Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have held over Kerry and running mate John Edwards since the Republican National Convention in New York.
Newsweek’s postconvention poll had Bush leading among registered voters 54 percent to 43 percent. The post-debate polls had 47 percent choosing Kerry-Edwards and 45 percent for Bush-Cheney. Two percent said they would vote for Ralph Nader and his running mate Peter Camejo.
WHERE ARE THEY?
Bush: The president took the day off from campaigning Sunday. Bush is scheduled to be in Clive, Iowa, on Monday.
Kerry: On Sunday, Kerry was in Austintown and Cleveland, Ohio, where he met with union workers and attended a service at one of Cleveland’s largest predominantly African-American churches. Kerry plans to be in Hampton, N.H., and Philadelphia on Monday.