That is a judicious way of handling these charges, rather than having them played out on television, where everything gets confused and the trivial gets mixed in with other stuff that is legitimate.

Rhetoric is cheap, evidence comes more dearly.

Given that Mr. Kerry is clearly exaggerating what happened to minority voters in the 2000 election in Florida, maybe we should wait for him to provide evidence of what he is alleging in 2004.

I suggest three things a) every state should require photo Id to vote. We demand it to board planes and rent a video at Blockbuster. Why not when voting? B) Clear statewide registration lists that can be pruned of ineligible names and which can be compared with those in other states to weed out duplicates. C) More effective and frequent prosecution of voter fraud crimes, with no regard to whose party they impact.

No party has a monopoly on honesty, but with the collapse of old-style GOP machines in places like Indiana and Long Island, New York, it's Democrats who have a greater opportunity to cheat.

Well, Mr. Kerry's constant unfounded references to African-Americans having their votes: "stolen" or "taken away" in 2000 are far more likely to exacerbate racial divisions.