It's difficult to tell from these poll results how the speech will affect general U.S. public,

It's possible that some people are thinking that the ground troops will face almost no casualties, as happened in the Persian Gulf,

might have helped Dole slightly.

In many respects, the public is reacting to the Edwards pick in almost the same way that they reacted to his rival, Dick Cheney, in 2000.

The real question for Clark is whether he can sustain his significant lead once the hoopla over his entry into the race has died down.

Americans may rally around a president when he sends troops to war but not when he sends them the bill.