Back from vacation. Sorry for the hiatus.

Spent the better part of the week in Kennebunkport, which is a place where the Bush America rubs up against the Kerry America. Poppy lives out on Walker Point, which I got a bird's eye view of from the water. In the heart of the tourist strip, the local Kerry headquarters hangs it banner proudly for all to see. And everywhere you look, it's 50-50 whether there's a Bush or a Kerry sticker on the bumper. You can buy 'Two Generations of Bush' refrigerator magnets in the tourist traps. I didn't see any Purple Heart magnets.

I also didn't get a chance to find out which side of the line the lobstering community falls on. They don't put political stickers on their boats, just their trap marker as a form of claim stake. I'm told it's a good year for lobster, so possibly the only downer for them would be the price of diesel. Should hold until November, I'd guess. After that, all bets are off.

So this Swift-boat Idiots For Fascism controversy is getting somewhat interesting, if only that it's had a significant effect in the swing states, which means Kerry is right to go after it as an issue - after all, this year every single vote counts. Let's hope we manage to count them all this time.

But don't expect much mileage out of the resignations from the campaign on the red side of the aisle. Bush will just play the Alfred E. Newman card and pretend he didn't know what was going on. Sounds familiar - a little whiff of Reagan/Iran/Contra/'plausible deniability' in the air.