You have entered the "Spin Zone"...

Have to love the headline here from USA Today. "President's rating hits low" Sure sounds like terrible news for George W. But, not exactly surprising considering the terrible fiasco coming out of Iraq and 'Prison-Gate'.

Ok, this isn't news to pop bubbly over..

"Forty-six percent of Americans approve of Bush's job performance in the USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll released Monday. That's 3 percentage points lower than his 49% in late January, early March and last week."

But, considering that it is only 3% lower than than late January and it has been almost all bad news out of Iraq in that time frame, it should be a lot worse, if the American public really blamed Bush.

However, the truly amazing news out of the poll, which of course is NOT in the headline, is that Bush is GAINING on Kerry in the states that were close in the 2000 election. Those are the only ones that matter. New York and California aren't going to Bush and Texas and Wyoming, Idaho and Utah aren't going to Kerry.

The story says Kerry has actually DROPPED 2% points in a match up against Bush in the past week. It also says:

"In the 16 states that were close in 2000, the new poll shows Bush with a 5-point edge over Kerry, 51%-46%, among likely voters. In mid-April, Bush and Kerry were tied at 49%"

That has got to be disappointing to Kerry supporters. Far be it from us to expect the headline to to convey the main message of the poll, though.