Kerry 3, Bush 2

Smackdown, week 5

• Condoleeza Rice will testify in public under oath (AP)
• Kerry faults Bush for soaring gas prices (AP)
• Bush releases new ad decrying Kerry position on gas taxes (Knight-Ridder)
• Bush's attacks on Kerry having an impact on Kerry's ratings (Washington Post)
• Kerry raises a record $43 million in Q1 (Washington Post)
• Prosecutors in Plame investigation expand inquiry to include possible lying by administration officials (NY Times)
• Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 308,000 in March (BLS)

Due to work schedule I kind of slacked off on following campaign related news for part of the week, so this list of news stories is a bit truncated (I essentially missed out on the whole Falujah mess)..

This week proves a bit of a test for my "who would I rather be" test. Being Bush meant both highs (the shifting poll numbers, improved job numbers) and lows (caving in on Rice testifying and the chaos in Falujah). Being Kerry meant pretty much dropping off the media radar and going in for surgery on your shoulder (with one positive note being the impressive fundraising numbers). Now, seeing as how I personally believe that political momentum lives and breathes on media attention, I would have to say that even Bush's negative attention was better than Kerry's non-attention. Thus, I have to award the week to Bush (by a nose).

(last weeks smackdown)