MORE BAD POLL NEWS FOR KERRY. The polls continue to deliver bad news for Mr. Kerry. Friday, Gallup showed him behind the President by 13 points. USA Today has the President ahead by 13 points. As a matter of fair play, say as opposed to acting like Dan Rather, I must mention that the Pew poll has the President ahead by only one point.

Another interesting poll is Knight Ridder - MSNBC, which polled the "swing" states, those not thought to be clear winners for either candidate and that could swing the election one way or the other. Most of these are showing clear preference for the President at this point, some 40 days or so before the election. Arizona favors Mr. Bush by 11 points, Missouri by 7 points, Nevada by 5 points, New Hampshire by 9 points, and Ohio by 7 points. West Virginia is a dead heat, showing the President ahead by one point. Florida cannot be accurately polled at the moment. There is that matter of multiple hurricanes. You would have to assume the President will be touring and promising federal aid to that ravaged state where his brother is the governor.

Here is another interesting fact. Three out of four supporters of the President say they like him. Only 4 out of 10 of Mr. Kerry's supporters like him; the rest vote for him because they do not like the President.

Another interesting fact is that four out of five people said past military sservice will not matter in their vote. That pretty much kills Mr. Kerry's strategy of touting his questionable Vietnam service and questioning the President's service. It's too bad Mr. Kerry didn't take that poll himself a little earlier in the contest.