Who is left?

With the country polarized and solid chunks committed either to Kerry or Bush, just who are the campaigns fighting over?

Some wags say that as time goes on, they are fighting over the "swing voters," the "undecideds" who are comprised of the dull-witted, uninformed and uninterested. If they vote at all, it will be on emotion, whim, or for some crazy reason noone can predict or even account for.

Not a pretty picture.

The press is saying the genuine undecideds are women concerned about security. Right now Bush's best argument for them is that if he doesn't keep doing what he's doing in Iraq, all those terrorists he created will come over here.

But other folks who study these things say the press is making a lot out of a little, that the Security Moms don't really exist.

Increasing attention will go to groups that don't make it on the poll charts, because they haven't voted much before, or at all. So the groups that could make the difference this year include:
young first-time voters
Native Americans
African Americans and non-Cuban Latinos in Florida
families of National Guard and Reserve troops


For those disheartened by the opinion polls, a bracing call to arms by the stellar SF Chronicle columnist Jon Carroll

JON CARROLL