It may not be huge in national polls, but it does seem to have had an impact on the electoral college, according to this synthesis of new polls in eighteen states:
Was there an Edwards bounce? Yes. Kerry picked up 30 electoral votes since yesterday and now leads by 117 EV. Of the new state polls, Kerry is ahead in 12, Bush is ahead in 4, and one is an exact tie. Since all of these are battleground states, this is good news for Kerry. He is ahead in Ohio, Florida, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Missouri. There is no conceivable scenario in which Bush can lose the majority of these states and win the election. But before Kerry supporters start popping the champagne corks, note that the vice-presidential bounce is usually short lived. Two weeks from now we will find out how much real change there is, if any.
another site comes to the same conclusion: Kerry: 322; Bush: 216. On the other hand, the Iowa futures market has Bush inching ahead a little this week.
SANTORUM’S HYPERBOLE: Eugene Volokh rebuts the Senator’s hysteria about the Defense of Marriage Act.
MEL’S ENGLISH PRIEST: An old duffer who refused to say the Vatican II mass died yesterday:
A quiet, kindly man who had been a practitioner of martial arts in his younger days, on July 2 Father Oswald Baker declared: “I am ready to die” – which he then did.
A lovely obit appears here.
ALLAWI ON SADDAM: He insists that the old dictator had contacts with al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations. Someone tell the New York Times.
MARRIAGE IN CANADA: Another province, the Yukon, grants gays the right to civil marriage. CORRECTION: Yukon is a territory, not a province.
EMAIL OF THE DAY: “You write that Dean Jones ‘is known chiefly as one of Disney’s top stars in the 1960s and 1970s.’ Perhaps the highlight of his career, however, was his starring role as Robert in the Sondheim musical “Company.” There is some sad irony there.” More ironies on the Letters Page.
The Dish 