NICE TRY

Concerned about scaring off swing voters, Democrats — mostly — put on a friendly face at their national convention | Bob Jones

At nearly 11:30 p.m. on July 28, the Democratic Party finally had an official nominee. In the alphabetical roll call of states, Minnesota should have been the one to put John Kerry over the top with 2,162 delegates. But Minnesota passed (with a little arm-twisting by the Kerry campaign) in favor of Ohio, whose 20 electoral votes could well make the difference in November.

That allowed former astronaut and U.S. Sen. John Glenn to shout, “Ohio takes great pride tonight in being the state to put this voting over the top and making John Kerry’s candidacy official, as we cast 159 votes for the next president of the United States, John Kerry!”

Whether Mr. Kerry lives up to Mr. Glenn’s prediction may depend, in large part, on public reaction to the nominee’s Thursday night acceptance speech—and indeed, to the convention as a whole. Last-minute polls, released just as Democratic delegates began converging on Boston, showed an unexpected surge by Mr. Bush. After months of decline, the president’s overall approval rating inched back up to the 50 percent mark, and solid majorities of voters now prefer Mr. Bush over Mr. Kerry when it comes to handling both Iraq and the war on terror. Just last month, the two candidates were tied on those subjects.