■"Bush Succeed in Tying Iraq, Terror War," by Jackie Calmes and Jacob M. Schlesinger, Wall Street Journal, 15 September 2004, p. A16.

■"Loss Leader: At 0-7, Adviser Bob Shrum Is Well Acquainted With the Concession Speech," by Mark Leibovich, Washington Post, 10 September 2004, p. C1.

Why is Bush doing so well despite the problems in Iraq?

He has succeed in making more Americans see the war in Iraq as part of the broader war on terror, for which Mr. Bush consistently has gotten higher approval ratings in polls than has Democratic foe John Kerry. In addition, Sen. Kerry has struggled to say what he would do differently in Iraq, a shortcoming exacerbated by Republican successes in highlighting his vacillations on the problem.

ìThe Bush campaign has worked hard, really hard, for months, to make terrorism and securityîónot Iraq specificallyóìthe issue of the election, and as usual, theyíve done it with enormous discipline.

Meanwhile, the man closest to Kerry, the guy who puts the words in his mouth, has an 0-7 record of running presidential campaigns. Bush has Rummy, but Kerry has Shrummy. So our Bean Town boy is working not only to defeat a sitting president, but ìreverse the curse.î

So we go from the Comeback Kid to Gore the Bore to Reverse the Curse.

Tell me this is good . . ..