UPDATE 11/1/04: Today's Des Moines Register front page has a detailed story about reasons why Kerry is gaining (and Bush is losing) in Iowa. Here are a few excerpts: • When all public polls of Iowans are considered, the trend lines are good for Kerry and bad for Bush. Public polls have shown the senator inching up in the state in recent days while the president is slipping. Kerry was doing better at the end of last week than during the first part of it. • Bush's job-approval rating is poor. Only 45 percent of Iowans approve, a dangerous level for an incumbent. • Kerry is getting 6 percent of the Republican vote, Bush is getting only 2 percent of the Democrats. • Kerry is doing well with women and senior citizens in Iowa, where a majority of voters are women and which is heavily populated with old folks. ------------------------------------- Tom Curry of MSNBC and other "major" news sources are running stories that show Bush ahead in most battleground states.

However, like Zogby, this Minneapolis Star-Tribune poll has Kerry ahead by 8 points, 49% to 41%

This Des Moines Register poll has Kerry ahead 48% to 45%.

I'm a longtime university teacher who is on leave this year to study online diaries and blogs.  A few months ago, I began reading MyDD and DailyKos, along with several other blogs.  I want to thank the creators of the blogs as well as the contributors for your analyses, detective work, and thoughtful diary entries and comments.  I've learned a lot, and as a lifetime progressive Democrat, I feel encouraged about the future of our country.

http://startribune.com/stories/587/4987346.html      This story is in today's Minneapolis Star Tribune.  It suggest a new way the GOP is trying to silence polls that do not put Bush way out in front.  See excerpts below. Click on URL above for entire story.  I'd like to know if similar stories are appearing in other states' newspapers.

"State Republican Party Chairman Ron Eibensteiner called Friday for the Star Tribune to suspend its Minnesota Poll until after the Nov. 2 election, saying the poll is "fatally flawed." The newspaper declined to do so . . ."

"The controversy will be taken to the streets outside the Star Tribune's Minneapolis offices, according to a Web site called "Minnesota Democrats Exposed," which has announced a protest of the newspaper's polling methods. Republican officials alerted the newspaper to the planned demonstration by "concerned citizens" at noon Monday but said they are not involved in it."