a news roundup

quick recap:

massacre of iraqi national guard soldiers in Iraq. might have been 'inside job'

350 metric tons of highly explosive material is reported to have disappeared in Iraq. condi knew about it a month ago.

clinton stumps for kerry. GOP chairman Ed Gillespie says that Clinton's appearance is a sign of Kerry's weakness. Doesn't mention how Schwartzenegger is stumping for Bush in Ohio.

chief justice rehnquist has thyroid cancer. will keep working.

election polls: K/E up by 2 in latest Rasmussen poll. B/C up three in latest Zogby. Both likely voters.
newsweek says 46-46 (registered voters)
time says B/C up 51-46 (likely voters)
electoral-vote.com swings from blue to red each day, practically. CW among politics-obsessed Dems is that we will win, by a lot. they take into account that polls generally do not account for the massive voter registration drives, a large advantage among young voters and independents, the trend that undecideds usually break 2/3 for the challenger, and the trend that incumbents need to get over 50% job approval rating in order to win (bush's varies from 44% to 48% lately). i don't know. it's unpredictable, ultimately. kids in the 'weekly reader' poll have bush winning by a landslide 60-something to 30-something. and they've chosen the winner correctly since 1956. maybe those kids and the nickelodeon kids should duke it out.

endorsements: K/E get 25 endorsements by papers that endorsed Bush in 2000. Bush gets 2 that endorsed Gore.

GOP registers 3600 'vote challengers' in Ohio.

provisional ballots do not need to be counted in Ohio if they are submitted at the wrong precinct. ruling may also be reversed in Michigan.