Polls Shmolls

Michael Barone explains the problems with polling and why this election won't be over 'til it's over. And if the Democrats win, they may still have lost on the real issues. By claiming that the voting was rigged in 2000 and 2004, they have suppressed black turnout. By recruiting moderate and conservative candidates in key districts, they may have given Bush a working bipartisan majority.

One thing we should all know: when you go to war you should win. When you retreat and abandon people who have trusted you, it gets easier the next time. Honor is like that. We have already won in Iraq, whether the media know it or not, because we have removed not just a dictator but a system where the Shiite majority of Iraq had no self-determination. They now have that power. We have let the genie out of the bottle and then broken the bottle, and the Muslim world will never be the same. Whether we achieve our final goal or leave it to the Iraqis to finish, we've made our point. I think that the rigid hold of Islam fundamentalism must eventually be broken so that its people can choose to believe or not for themselves. I don't know how it will play out, but I believe that every nation that denies freedom will eventually fall of its own inability to compete.