IT'S THE BIG GOVERNMENT, STUPID

Al Gore has proven that he is completely out of touch with the American people, and undecided voters in particular. George W. Bush has tapped into their pulse because he happens to be one of them: a real person.

Pollster Frank Luntz found that in terms of swaying undecided voters Bush won the debate hands down. Among members of his focus group in St. Louis, five Gore supporters switched to Bush, and only two of Bush's switched to Gore.

Being in St. Louis that night, I talked briefly with Luntz. Above all, Luntz impressed me that he is convinced that his group is truly representative of undecided voters, due to his organization's thorough vetting process in selecting people who ultimately qualify for the group.

Happily for Bush supporters, Gore is apparently choosing to listen to the wisdom of The Washington Post editorial board rather than swing voters. The Post pronounced Gore's third debate effort as "just right."

Bush supporters think Gore's performance was just right too -- just right to ensure Gore's defeat if he continues in that mode.

Gore's impudent invasion of Bush's space was just right to cause one female politician I was talking with to be utterly repulsed by him. His petulant insistence on making Dingle and Norwood household names was just right to convince all non-policy wonks (99.9 percent of the American people) that he is an irredeemable nerd rather than a champion of the people.

As out of touch as Gore is, however, I think he'll wake up when he sees that the polls continue to contradict his self-punditry. Then we'll truly see an acting-out of the desperation that he'll be experiencing. It's not going to be pretty.

Among the tactics he'll probably use is to escalate his efforts to scare the elderly and others about the security of their Social Security and Medicare. Bush should be ready but not overreact to the ploy. So far, what Bush is doing is working, and he should stay the course.

When Gore again tries to scare the people, he will probably find that he and Bill Clinton have cried wolf one too many times.

Gore finished his closing remarks with the shamelessly Reagan-affected statement, "You ain't seen nothing yet." As I think he'll discover on Nov. 7, we've seen plenty, thank you.

~David Limbaugh of Cape Girardeau is a nationally syndicated columnist.