Virtually every poll prior to the Edwards selection indicated that there were no more than 10% of the entire electorate that had been in the undecided camp.
Based on what I've seen, Kerry's "bump" from the selection of Edwards increased his percentage of the electorate by ~3-4%. That is a relative HUGE bump, out of only 10% of POSSIBLE voters that would even consider to move Kerry's way.
Plus, I'm quite certain that Cheney's "bump" when he's re-affirmed as the Republican nominee, will be a "negative" bump for Bush - unless he steps down from the VP nomination.
And, BTW, the reason we aren't gloating, is because none of this matters unless it holds on November 2. I could care less what the polls say on July 15, because the Neither Iraq, nor the Economy, nor Al Qaida is currently what it will be in November. The Economy could improve, or, as now appears to be the case, the "recovery" could have already peaked in the 2nd qtr and already be dropping. In Iraq, we could have the beginnings of a stable government, or we could have a few more assassinations and a growing insurgency with even more chaos. And we could have a terrorist attack, a thwarted terrorist attack, or no terrorist attack on U.S. Soil.
The fact is, events on the ground with those three issues will decide this election. Not trivial posturing about Gay Marriage, or whether Dick Cheney swears and favors Halliburton, or whether John Edwards outshines Kerry and opposes limits on tort awards. That's just noise. We have an economy that is either in a recovery, or a failed recovery, and two separate wars, one that is highly visible in Iraq, that will either turn out to be costly but ultimately successful, or a fiasco in progress, and one with Terrorists on our own soil, that is much harder to evaluate. And neither you nor I nor anyone else genuinely knows WHAT will happen over the next 3 and a half months on these 3 very important issues.
BTW, we have something in common. I love to deep-sea fish out of Cabo. Last time I was out there, I pulled in three 25-40 lb. Dorado, and I had a ~150-200 lb. Blue Marlin on the line for over an hour before he fought his way off. I surely don't take offense at that (and I tried the local talent, repeatedly, I might add).
