DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe said that after Kerry picked his running mate and accepted the nomination at the Democrat’s convention that he we’d like see Kerry “anywhere from eight to twelve points up.”

Matthew Dowd, Chief Strategist of the Bush-Cheney ‘04 campaign said historical analysis suggested “Kerry should have a leard of more than 15 points coming out the convention.”

They were both wrong.

The bounce was a whopping 4 points, according to Newsweek.

Kerry’s four-point “bounce” is the smallest in the history of the NEWSWEEK poll. There are several factors that may have contributed to the limited surge, including the timing of the poll. On Thursday, Kerry had just a two-point lead over Bush (47 percent to 45 percent), suggesting that his Friday night speech had a significant impact. Additionally, Kerry’s decision to announce his vice-presidential choice of John Edwards three weeks before the convention may have blunted the gathering’s impact. And limited coverage by the three major networks also may have hurt Kerry.

With the constant attacks against Bush the past few months, including a number of books and Michael Moore’s propaganda film Fahrenheit 911, Kerry’s current standing is quite weak. During the month of August the Bush campaign will rise up and go on the offensive, not only deflating the Kerry bounce, but also sending the Kerry-Edwards campaign into freefall.

Be afraid Kerry, be very afraid.

This could be interesting…

The Bush twins, who have tried to stay out of view for most of their father’s political career, might give campaign speeches this year, Laura Bush said Tuesday.

In an interview in the library of a borrowed house on the island where leaders of the world’s industrial nations are meeting, Bush said Barbara and Jenna, 22, will work at the Arlington, Va., campaign headquarters when they return soon from a European vacation. They graduated from college this spring.

”They’ll go work at the headquarters and then, if they feel confident enough, they may go out on the campaign trail a little bit,” she said. Their focus will be young voters.

”Jenna said, ‘Dad, I don’t want to say when I’m 50 years old that I never worked on a single one of your campaigns,’ ” the first lady said.

This could be very effective for the campaign. If Bush’s daughters have the desire to help their father’s campaign, this could be a big help for Bush’s appeal to younger voters…

Well, looks like Howard Dean has decided to end his bid for the presidency:

Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean planned to announce Wednesday that he was abandoning his bid for the presidency, a day after he lagged far behind in yet another state primary.

Democratic Party sources revealed Dean’s withdrawal from the race, Fox News has confirmed. The former Vermont governor planned to announce the news at a 1 p.m. EST press conference in Burlington, Vt.

The party officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Fox News that the former governor is not shutting down his campaign, but instead ending his formal candidacy for president of the United States.

Howard, it’s been a blast. It’s been great making fun of you, mocking you and exposing you for the worthless liberal slime that you are. You aimed higher than you were capable of achieving. You had too much faith your “grassroots” campaign. You might have had the cash, but you didn’t have the votes. You might have had the organization, but you didn’t have the votes. You might have had the publicity, but you didn’t have the votes. You might have been leading in the polls, but you didn’t have the votes.

Deaniacs thought I was crazy when I said Dean was in a downward spiral. They completely denied it. Well, look who’s laughing now…

I wish Dean still had a chance at the nomination. I would have very much loved to see him lose hard against Bush in November.

Perhaps the Democrats will learn it takes more than being angry Bush hater who decided to be against the war in Iraq to be presidential material.

As I’ve been saying all along, the voters would send Howard Dean back to Vermont. It’s Howard Dean’s fault they sent him back so soon.

Wesley Clark is calling it quits.

Retired Gen. Wesley Clark will drop out of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, Fox News has confirmed.

Clark will make a formal announcement on Wednesday at 3 p.m. EST. from his hometown of Little Rock, Ark., sources told Fox News.

The novice politician, who had hoped to cash in on his Southern roots, saw another round of disappointing third-place primary returns on Tuesday in Virginia and Tennessee. Campaign aides, who had not been paid for more than a week, said after the primary results that they were packing their bags and going home.

Sources told Fox News that Clark lacked the funds to advertise aggressively in next week’s Wisconsin primary, and that campaigning there would all but wipe him out.

Clark will pledge to work closely with the Democratic Party to support the nominee and other candidates across the country, an adviser told The Associated Press.

I can hear echoes of Michael Moore:

“I have decided to cast my vote in the primary for Wesley Clark. That’s right, a peacenik is voting for a general. What a country!

I believe that Wesley Clark will end this war. He will make the rich pay their fair share of taxes. He will stand up for the rights of women, African Americans, and the working people of this country.

And he will cream George W. Bush.

Looks like Michael Moore is the king of bad predictions.

It’s funnny isn’t it? Howard Dean and Wesley Clark were at the top of the pack in the beginning. Even with Clark’s late entry to the race, he showed an ability to raise money quickly. Now Clark is out, but Dean is staying in - pretending like he still can pull it off.

Who would have thought? It’s not going to be Dean or Clark considering the other to be their running mate. Their early popularity just didn’t turn into electoral success.

The plot thickens…

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Cross posted on Blogs For Bush.