All is lost! Kerry defeats Bush!

That’s the screamer from this Newsweek poll; that tool of the right wing Fox News merely states “Kerry closes in on Bush.”

I would keep the champagne corks unpopped at the DNC. In my opinion, the surge in Kerry’s numbers reflect a single advantage: he didn’t yelp a wacky primal scream after the Iowa caucuses. Other than that, what do Americans know about Senator Splunge?

The NY Times had an article today on some of Kerry’s past positions, but the New Republic had some killer material. Here’s one issue that I think could be devastating for Kerry in the general election:

Senator Kerry describes himself as a deficit hawk, so, in 1994, he was furious when the deficit-busting Concord Coalition gave him a failing grade of 29 percent for fiscal responsibility. In a blustery response to the Globe's Jill Zuckman, he complained (with justification) that the Coalition's methodology had made him look less responsible than he really is: "It doesn't reflect ... my support for a 50-cent increase in the gas tax." He was right. It didn't. But, once the Globe corrected that omission, Weld took the opportunity to blast Kerry's support for a 50-cent increase in the gas tax almost daily during the Senate race.

Fifty cents a gallon! [Disclaimer: I commute >100 miles a day.] Consider that the governor of California was just recalled in no small part due to his support for a car excise tax, one that Schwarzenegger quickly repealed after taking office. Lesson: don’t screw with people’s cars. Of course the Kerry campaign will disavow such a steep tax now, but are Americans willing to let a President Kerry into office and take that risk? I think not.

Those popularity numbers for Kerry are the ceiling. Once the Rove machine starts humming, and the other unsavory details of Kerry’s left-of-Kennedy voting record come to light, he’ll be coming back to earth like Icarus.