And Now For Some Bad News

After John Edwards joined the ticket and until the Swift Boat Veterans attacked, the news was mostly good for Kerry. He had a few stumbles but for the most part was running a disciplined campaign and was largely immune to anything the Republicans threw at him. It turns out now though that the Veteran attacks may be working, if this new LA Times poll is to be believed:

Kerry 46 (48)
Bush 49 (46)

This represents a shift of 5 points from before the Democratic Convention but is still within the margin of error.

Excerpts:

For all the promising signs for Bush, the poll found the president still threatened by a current of uneasiness about the nation's direction. In the survey, a slight majority of voters said they believed the country was on the wrong track. A majority also said the country was not better off because of his policies and needed to set a new course. And 45% said they believed his policies had hurt rather than helped the economy.

Those results suggested that a substantial part of the electorate remained open to change. But amid the firefight over Kerry's Vietnam service and uncertainty about his policy plans, the Democrat still has not built a constituency for his candidacy as large as the audience for change in general, the poll suggested. Nearly 1 in 5 voters who say the country needs to change policy direction is not supporting Kerry, according to the poll.

They say John Kerry is a good closer and that he thrives when the chips are down (witness Iowa). Between the fall-out from the attacks and the upcoming Republican convention, it looks like he may have to put that trait to the test.