I know, I know; fuck the polls. Still this is interesting. Newsweek's poll, which showed an 11 point lead for Bush after the RNC now shows a 2 point lead for Kerry, a statistical tie. Interesting details, too. For insance, Kerry won the personality contest:

Kerry, typically characterized as aloof and out of touch by his opponents, came across as more personally likeable than Bush (47 percent to the president’s 41 percent).

Also, it would seem that the experts rush to call the debate a draw didn't reflect the reality of people's perceptions:

Among the three-quarters (74 percent) of registered voters who say they watched at least some of Thursday’s debate, 61 percent see Kerry as the clear winner, 19 percent pick Bush as the victor and 16 percent call it a draw.

There's a real and important difference between winning a debate and winning someone's vote, but this kind of spread will have significant ripples on how the rest of the race plays out. And also in the category of "interesting," this last bit was pretty weird:

Finally, echoing a recurring refrain of Kerry's, more than half of all voters (51 percent) think the Bush administration has not done enough to engage other nations (43 percent feel they have done enough or even gone too far in that direction as it is).

This is actually kind of disturbing. 43 percent feel they have done enough or even gone too far as it is in working to partner with the rest of the world. That should go to show you how deep the radical right has gotten into the average american mind. Make no mistake: revolutiuon is on the ballot. Theirs.