Battleground

A few observations of what it's like to be in Pennsylvania at this time of year...

The fall color has been astounding. Every leaf has broken into autumnal flower at once, much as the undecideds are expected to break towards the challenger, if conventional wisdom is to be trusted, which it can't.

A neighbor who couldn't put a Kerry sign in his lawn because he is a small business owner and fears backlash from Republican customers, told me through clenched teeth that a pro Bush video is circulating and being screened inside many a church in the keystone state. As a churchgoer, he's not happy about this. How many Pennsylvania Christians will turn out for their swaggerin' compadre, I wonder. Can they really see the fusion of church and state as a good thing?

That was earlier in the week. While walking home from a Kerry rally at the courthouse today, a Kerry yard sign stood in front of the neighbor's house. We're all choosing up sides now.

At the Kerry rally, we listened to Governor Ed Rendel whipping up the troops from the courthouse steps. Then uptown girl Christie Brinkley talked about being a Mom for Kerry, as did an actress from the West Wing, and a TV actor I didn't know. My daughter almost got to shake the governor's hand. As cars and trucks rumbled up High Street many a vehcile honked in approval. I saw about five Bush supporters gamely holding signs on the fringes of the crowd, and one true believin' Bush mom was caught up in a frantic argument with a Kerry mom. Their faces were a foot apart. And you could feel the hate from a distance. A cop stood off the curb keeping a wise eye on them. I heard the Bush mom accuse us of "living in a dream world." To which I wanted to reply, better a dream than a nightmare.

As I drive around West Chester, to and from Chester and Radnor, I've been taking informal yard sign polls. The ratio of Kerry to Bush signs and stickers is about 7 to 1. Then, I come home and pore over online polls to find that Pennsylvania's a dead heat. We're all living inside a virtual margin of error. There is a disconnect between what I see and hear with my eyes and ears and what I see and hear in TV and computerland. If you were to beam into my part of Pennsylvania, you would have to conclude that Kerry's going to win by a landslide in this state. Even my sister, who is undecided, and lives in Republican country in the middle of the state (the infamous Pennsylania "T"), says the sign ratio breaks at about 50/50. So unless there are legions of Tribulation Force members hiding in safe houses, only to emerge from their bunkers on election day, my gut tells me that Kerry is going to take Pennsylvania. I have never in 40 years seen so much political activity for any candidate as I see this time out, and it's definitely lopsided towards Kerry. It feels like he has the momentum around here.

Every day we get messages from George and Laura Bush, Ed Rendell, umpteen progressive action committee sites, the Democrats, the Republicans. Flyers come in the mail. One morning there was a George Bush brochure in my windshield wiper.

Will it be close enough nationwide to steal? I fear it. I'm not sleeping well. I'm victimized by pre-election stress syndrome (PESS). And come Wednesday it will advance to post-election stress disorder (PESD). After that, I'll likely be plagued by pre-inaugural stress disorder (PISD).

I want to believe that young people will turn out in droves and break for Kerry. (I'll believe it when I see it.) I want to believe that some Republicans won't be able to hold their noses and vote Bush; instead staying home or crossing over. I want to believe that if a Democratic incumbent were as catastrophically incompetent and deceptive as this president has been, that I would have the guts to break ranks the other way. I want to believe that Americans are a people not to be tampered with, who afterall are not the fools the spinmeisters take them to be. Based on what I see, there is reason to hope, but is it equal to my fears? It's tight. There is no margin of error. Honestly, I don't know anymore. Most of all, I want it to be over.