Lots of ink and hand wringing about the state of the Kerry campaign appeared out of nowhere yesterday on the evening news and the Internet.  Suddenly the air is full of "Kerry shake-up" rumors.  Of course when you look close its always "Democratic sources outside the Kerry campaign” who are predicting the gloom and doom.  These sources are of course never named.  The Iron Mouth calls for truth in news: they are “Democratic sources angling for a job.”   

What about the timing?  I'm willing to bet that on any given day, there are a large number of “Democratic Sources outside the campaign” who are anxious to let the world know of their plan for the Kerry effort.  So why does the story “break” on day 2 of the GOP convention?  Enter the Television Producer--the person whose job it is to find “stories” to play on the news.  The Producer calls a few people he knows, perhaps on Zell Miller's staff, who will gladly tell him the candidate is in trouble.  Thus TV news drama is heightened--and Bush handlers don't call the Network to threaten banishment to the overflow press room for the Network's correspondents because they led with a story explaining that the President of the United States had to change his position on the winnability of the War on Terror. 

Let's face it--Kerry had a tough two weeks--but that's to be expected.  Bush planned his big SBVT push to be during the month of August when Kerry would be laying low, trying to save money because he had an extra month in which he had to make his $75 million work.  So it is nearly inevitable that Kerry would take a hit at this point in the campaign.

But the fact of the matter is this, campaigns go in cycles and sometimes you're up and sometimes you're down.  We need some of that ol' Clinton toughness--the kind that got us through a real scandal--one where our guy did do something wrong.  So stick to your guns John.