The fact that some polls still show Bush and Kerry locked in a dead heat does not bode well for the Kerry campaign. After weeks of seemingly devastating embarrassments in Iraq (the latest: a Pentagon e-mail obtained by Time that catches Dick Cheney signing off on a no-bid contract in Iraq for Halliburton), Bush should be burnt. Unfortunately, according to the Washington Post, Bush's heavy emphasis on negative ads (75 percent of Bush's advertising) has framed the debate on Kerry's "flip-flopping"--distracting voters from Bush's war. --JF