10/30/00 3:25 p.m.
The Score
An update on the polls.

By NR’s John J. Miller & Ramesh Ponnuru

ith a week to go, George W. Bush holds a slight lead over Al Gore in six polls. Here are the latest results, in percentages:

CNN/USA Today/Gallup: Bush 49, Gore 42
Newsweek: Bush 45, Gore 42
Rasmussen: Bush 47, Gore 41
Reuters/MSNBC (Zogby): Bush 45, Gore 42
Voter.com Battleground: Bush 43, Gore 40
Washington Post/ABC: Bush 47, Gore 46

Of course, it's the electoral-college map that counts. Most media organizations give Bush an edge here, too, but the race remains close and only one has either candidate hitting the magic number of 270.

ABC: Bush 209, Gore 171
CBS: Bush 205, Gore 205
CNN: Bush 209, Gore 175
Evans & Novak: Bush 318, Gore 220
Fox News: Bush 246, Gore 209
The Hotline: Gore 241, Bush 234
NBC News: Bush 209, Gore 175
Rasmussen: Bush 220, Gore 168
USA Today: Bush 167, Gore 131

Ready or Not
Gore won't dare call Bush inexperienced — his false assertion in the first presidential debate that he had never done such a thing makes it impossible for him to return to the theme now. But he can send out his top surrogates: his wife and his running mate. At a rally in Michigan on Sunday, Tipper Gore said, "What you need to do is figure out who you're going to vote for for president, and I know that you're going to weigh experience. That's important." It was a gentle scold, to be sure. She didn't even mention Bush by name. Yet the New York Times made it the lead story in today's paper — "Gore Team Renews Criticism of Bush as Inexperienced" — perhaps because Joe Lieberman was slightly more direct on This Week: "I don't think Gov. Bush is ready — based on his experience…to be the kind of president the American people need at this point in our history." (The Times itself leaned heavily on this argument in its endorsement of Gore yesterday. Gore has been "face to face" with world leaders, it said. Funny, we don't recall that argument carrying much weight with the Times in 1992.)

If this is a real Gore campaign tactic, it's great news for Bush: Most people think he is qualified to be president, and assertions to the contrary won't fall on receptive ears. The only thing better than Gore trotting out his wife to level the charge would be Gore doing it himself — or better yet, Bill Clinton. Lieberman ought to be careful, too. A recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found that 49 percent considered Dick Cheney more qualified to be president than Lieberman, with only 26 percent thinking the reverse.