The Seattle Times: Nation & World: Gloves come off early in race for president By Mark Silva, The Orlando Sentinel

It’s possible that ”the public is going to get burned out over this,” said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Center for Public Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. Yet, she said, the issues that Bush and Kerry are battling about — terrorism, taxes, jobs and health care — are critical enough to keep voters engaged.

”We’re seeing a new model of campaigning,” Jamieson said. ”The assumption has always been that you don’t engage seriously at the general-election level until at least summer. You are now down to the specific case against each side at a very early time.”

It’s going to be a long, hard campaign. Ask yourself who benefits from voter burnout? mjh