Last week there was a Field poll showing that if the '04 election were held now, Bush would win California; this week there's a Quinnipiac poll showing that if the '04 election were held now, Bush would win New York.

Sigh.

I know I'm not supposed to worry -- Shrub's approval rating is nearly twenty points lower than Poppy's after Gulf War I, and Poppy lost in '92. I wish that reassured me, but it doesn't. Gulf War I was a one-shot deal -- afterward we were supposed to be at peace, and peace is what Poppy couldn't manage. Now, by contrast, we're in a state of permanent war, or we think we are; all domestic woes can be blamed on 9/11 and the ever-lengthening list of Antichrist states (one of which, I firmly believe, will monopolize all political talk throughout the '04 campaign, after the Bushies move this state -- whichever one it is -- to the top of the agenda, while demonizing all skeptics who dare to suggest that it's not a clear and present danger). I just don't see a way past this by '04. (I'm looking ahead to '06 -- by that time it will probably seem as if we've been at war, and in recession and debt, forever. Bush Fatigue may really set in with a vengeance.)