One is to go for a kindred spirit, to ensure the best possible personal chemistry between the two people on the ticket The Bush/Cheney tandem is one example. The race, as of yesterday, is on. Incumbents, their school of thought argues, usually win or lose by landslides.. Hovering over it all will be the overlapping shadows of two wars, one 35 years ago in Vietnam, the other whose bloody aftermath make headlines today.This year, the conflicts are inextricably entangled. If the US transfers power successfully to an interim Iraqi government and the violence subsides, then the debate about Mr Kerry’s valour in Vietnam and Mr Bush’s spell in the Texas National Guard will become irrelevant.But if American soldiers continue to die and White House talk about installing democracy in the Middle East is exposed as cynical nonsense, then the disparity between Bush the launcher of wars and Bush the man who declined to serve in a war will be a constant subtext.

The assumption is that 2004, like 2000, will be another desperately close affair Others believe however it will not be so tight. The habit reflects his knowledge of the issues, and the ensuing realisation that most things in life are more complicated.”Thoughtful” is the adjective that often best defines Mr Kerry. But for audiences on the campaign trail, thoughtful is usually anything but exhilarating. For the Bush campaign the senator’s “on the one hand, on the other” approach only proves his tendency to waffle – that he is a man congenitally unable to make up his mind, who cannot be entrusted with the job of commander-in-chief Which leads, inevitably, to Iraq.

For the first time in decades, the election will be shaped at least as much by foreign policy as by domestic issues such as jobs, education or health care. For this utterly uncurious President, the world is black and white. In the Bush world view, it is a case of “either with us or against us.”Mr Kerry on the other hand does nuance, if anything to excess All too often a Kerry speech is a symphony in greys. In that respect, score it for Mr Bush.From character flows a person’s entire approach to governing Mr Bush, famously, doesn’t do nuance. The other turned against the war in which he was a decorated hero, before entering Democratic politics, spending the past two decades as senator for Massachusetts.”Come November, voters will have a very clear choice” proclaims Mr Bush – he couldn’t be more right.