With renewed focus on Iraq evidently helping the President in the polls, John Kerry first tried to put the focus back on Mr. Bush's National Guard service. With that evidenly not being such a good idea, Sen. Kerry is now focusing on jobs. This may not turn out any better for him. The Conference Board is reporting that consumer confidence rose last month, largely on the strength of an improving jobs market. Evidently, all that good news about jobs really is good news about jobs:

“This latest improvement in consumer confidence was sparked by a more favorable assessment of current business and labor market conditions and increased consumer optimism about the next six months,” says Lynn Franco, Director of The Conference Board’s Consumer Research Center. “The job market, which has a major impact on confidence, appears to be gaining strength. The percentage of consumers claiming jobs are hard to get is now at its lowest level since November 2002, and more consumers expect this trend to continue.”