John Kerry = Dukakis redux
• Wearisome Bedfellows
Is there any doubt that secular Kerry will lose to god-ass-licking George Bush? I'd rather have Kerry. But can't imagine any other reason for expected anything other than Dukakis II than wishful thinking.
For most voters in November, a candidate's positions on "God, guns, and gays" -- the trinity of so-called values issues that Southern Republicans have perfected to hammer liberal opponents -- won't matter as much as the economy or the Iraq war. "[But] taken together, the whole cluster of cultural issues could be as important as either national security or economic security" in some battlegrounds, says GOP pollster Whit Ayres, who has been taking the electorate's temperature for the Bush campaign.