Jujitsu is the Japanese wrestling art of using an opponent's strength and weight against him. In the process, the Republicans have blurred all the issues that might have worked Gore's way. Take, first, peace and prosperity. When times are this good, the incumbent party is supposed to get the benefit of the doubt. But for voters, peace and prosperity can mean something else, says Sam Popkin, a political scientist advising the Gore campaign.
Prosperity means a surplus that makes tax cuts look less threatening.
Popkin insists that Gore is still in a position to win the election and in the final days of the campaign, Gore hopes to turn both perceptions around by focusing on Bush's lack of experience and his fiscal policies. But the closeness of the contest is still mystifying to many Democrats. It's beyond me. Except for a brief period of compromise in 1997, Republican leaders have waged an unapologetically partisan war against a president to whom they never accorded real legitimacy. Yet here comes George W. Bush.