June 9

The latest poll, conducted by the LA Times, shows John Kerry with a seven-point lead over President Bush in a head-to-head contest, and a six-point lead with Ralph Nader in the mix.

(And, again it seems the Dems are spending time and energy worrying about Nader when they should perhaps be more concerned with the guy they're actually running against...)

According to the AP:

"By a 10-percent margin, more people disapproved of Bush's performance in Iraq than approved, down from the slight majority that favored his approach in a Times poll in March."

and crucially: "More than half of voters felt that the president's policies had hurt the economy while fewer than a quarter felt they had improved it."

The Washington Post reports that steady growth of the economy and building employment numbers is failing to improve the President's poll fortunes.

But the comfort for the GOP is that his overall job approval rating is back over 50 per cent for the first time in some weeks, and, despite that disapproval verdict on the war in Iraq, "Asked who would be best at keeping the country safe from terrorism, Bush beat Kerry by 50 per cent to 31 per cent".

The poll also puts Bush neck-and-neck with Kerry in the potential key battleground states of Ohio and Wisconsin, and slightly ahead in Missouri.

While the blanket coverage of the death of former President Ronald Reagan might be seen as being advantageous to the current incumbent, it's also possible that it is overshadowing any good coverage Bush might have expected out of the G8 summit and his meeting with Iraqi President-in-waiting Ghazi Ajil al-Yawar.

USA Today has some pearls of wisdom from Bush senior on the occasion of his upcoming 80th birthday.

And I suppose deep down we'd have been surprised if this wasn't the case....