Bush Steps Ahead Of Kerry Even As Convention Opens

More bad news from the Washington Post for the Kerry/Edwards campaign — the Democrats have fallen behind the Bush/Cheney ticket for the first time, 48-46, in the WaPo/ABC poll (via Hugh Hewitt):

A growing proportion of voters say Bush and not Kerry is the candidate who most closely shares their values, and four in 10 believe the Democrat is “too liberal.” Bush has even narrowed the gap on which candidate better understands their problems, an area in which Kerry has led. …
The survey found that Kerry and Bush remain virtually deadlocked, with 48 percent of registered voters supporting Bush and 46 percent Kerry. Independent candidate Ralph Nader claims 3 percent of the hypothetical vote. Kerry held a four-point lead over Bush in mid-June and was tied with Bush in a Post survey two weeks ago.

So much for the Edwards bounce. In fact, another finding of the poll may explain why Edwards not only hasn’t helped John Kerry but may actually be dragging anchor on the Democratic ticket, despite some still-high negatives for the President:

Although the electorate remains deeply divided, the survey found one area of broad agreement: Two in three voters say this election is one of the most important of their lives.

They’re right — this is the most significant presidential election in a generation, and the fact that Kerry chose a single-term politician who can’t even count on carrying his home state demonstrates Kerry’s lack of seriousness for the challenge. Serious candidates don’t select VP nominees for their pretty-boy looks and great hair. Now that Teresa has sabotaged the run-up and Andrew Stern stuck his knife in Kerry’s back, he’d better hope for a miracle to get the bounce he needs from the convention, because the way it looks now, he hit his high-water mark last month.