I suppose like most political addicts, I can't help but be into polls. The funny thing, though, is that I flat out don't believe them. For one, their representative samples don't make sense to me and also, I just don't see how you can poll 1,000 people and get a sense of what America's thinking. State polls I tolerate a little more.

What people say about their vote is one thing and what they actually do is another. When the moment of truth comes, people are serious with their votes and vote based on what they believe is the right thing.

This was my firm belief in the dark days of the Democratic primary. I remember the one NH poll that had Dean at 42 and Kerry at 23. CSPAN was broadcasting the Arnie Anniston show, which normally is a radio talk show in the NH area. I remember that three analysts were on with her and there was the whole "stick a fork in Kerry" thing going on. In fact, I remember one of the guys saying, "Anyone heard from Kerry yet? It's going to be hard to spin these numbers."

At that point many had defected from Kerry's camp to Clark or Edwards and those of us left could not find much in the media to give us hope. Two things were important for me. First of all, the candidate showed absolutely no signs of giving up. He believed in himself. Secondly, I realized that I trust people to be ultimately responsible with their votes. I knew that regardless of what people said, they'd ultimately realize there was too much riding on this to make a protest vote.

Forgetting the partisans, there are too many Independents and swing Democrats and Republicans who would take a long hard look when its time to vote. I think people will be very responsible with whom they vote for. And I think when it is all said and done, Kerry will get the benefit of the doubt from people.

My feel is that in the last two weeks of the campaign, people will actually flood the candidates webpages and grassroots webpages to find out all they can about each candidate's policies and proposals and that's when they'll make up their minds.