1. The country is still rather divided as it was in 2001, but a lot of the 'soft middle' independents are still pretty scarred by 9/11, and are not going to be enamored with Kerry's past anti-Intel stance.
2. The mass media remains liberal-biased, but there is a much greater awareness of this bias in the general public. It will be harder for the liberal media to shield Kerry and attack Bush in 2004 than it was for them to shield Gore and attack Bush in 2000.
3. Kerry's best publicity days are now behind him. He has had three months of weekly headlines "Kerry Wins!". That is gone now.
4. Most important - the Bush/GOP advertising machine is about to roll, and from the money amounts I head read about here, the term 'juggernaut' would be a good description. Despite his rhetoric, I strongly doubt Soros has the moral courage to actually invest the bulk of his wealth to counter that advertising, and to be honest if he does he will become a major issue in the race. Soros will not stand up well to public scrutiny.
I am optimistic, but the world is not fixed. The situation might be much different in three months; something bad could still happen in Iraq, or a terror attack could tank the economy again. Alternately, we might get Osama in three months and get another quarter of 6%+ economic growth, at which point the wet thuds of Democrats jumping off of roofs will drown out all other sounds in Washington.
Syncopate the action and play boogie woogie for me. Eight to the bar.