KCCI-TV poll once again shows Kerry in the lead, but by a slightly thinner margin (five points) than respondents had granted him three weeks before. But who cares about polls on Kerry and Bush? (Oh, not us, certainly.) Iowans still can't get enough of the speculation that their governor, Tom Vilsack, might soon become Kerry's vice-presidential running mate. In the same KCCI poll, Iowans were asked about the Vilsack option; only 56 percent recommended him. A solid 32 percent said no and 12 percent weren't sure. If one-third of Iowans don't even want him, what's the point? The Des Moines Register brings us more Vilsack dish, reporting that the guv is gaining support among Democratic big wigs like Al From. But, in another article, the paper delivers a stunning blow to Vilsack's veep campaign: politically active Democratic voters in Wisconsin generally have no idea who Vilsack is. And as we all know, as Wisconsin goes, so goes the veepstakes.

Maine. Purple People Watch has previously argued that Maine looks a lot more like a safe Democratic state than a key electoral battleground. Undeterred by our analysis, however, media buyers for both campaigns (who, suggestively, make more money when more ads are run) are staying on the air in Vacationland's cheap media markets. Following suit, influential Today charts and Gallup polls have continued to award Maine coveted battleground status.

Polling evidence indicates that we had this right. A Critical Insights poll released early this month showed Kerry maintaining a strong 49-39 lead over the incumbent. Undecided voters typically break for the challenger, which should give Kerry further cause for optimism. Indeed, the poll indicates that Bush may be over-performing vis-à-vis his underlying strength -- his approval rating came in at a dismal 34 percent. A poll conducted a few days later by Rasmussen Reports showed Kerry with an even bigger 54-35 lead. Looks like it might be time to declare the battle over.

Minnesota. As the November election approaches, the Bush campaign has adopted what can only be called a Mormon method for winning Minnesota, a key battleground state. Addressing the Gopher State's Republican convention last weekend, Bush campaign manager Ken Mehlman roused the crowd, saying "We're going to do it the old-fashioned way -- through grassroots politics." The strategy? Sending mass emails, deploying scores of volunteers to fan out across neighborhoods and knock on doors, and positioning campaign workers in public places like shopping malls to approach voters.

Presidential proselytizing has reached new heights in Minnesota, a state that Republican strategists are hoping to capture for the first time since 1972. Al Gore won the state by only 2.4 percent of the vote in 2000, and its increasing suburbanization bodes well for conservatives. (Four of the counties gathered around the twin cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis now shelter half the state's population.) But Minnesotans are an eclectic bunch. Bush's swaggering conservatism -- especially as it pertains to the war in Iraq -- is a hard sell here. Minnesotans may lean a little to the right, but God's Frozen Chosen (Lutherans, for those who don't know the lingo) are still more concerned about social justice and equality than banning gay marriage and waging unjustified wars. According to Lawrence Jacobs, a political scientist at the University of Minnesota, Bush's ratings on terrorism are nearly 10 points lower in Minnesota than in the rest of the nation. He'll have to knock on an awful lot of doors to bridge that gap.

Nevada. Bush-Cheney '04 is giving Nevada more love than usual this week. Presidential advisor Karl Rove swung through the state over the weekend in advance of a visit by the president scheduled for Friday in Reno, a Republican stronghold. It will be Bush's first visit to Reno as president.

While in the state, Rove held a $150,000 fundraiser for Rep. John Porter at a developer's home in a gated community in Las Vegas; the fundraiser was greeted with protestors waving "Peace is Patriotic" and "A Vote for Porter is a Vote for Yucca" signs. Rove told reporters that Bush's support for the highly unpopular Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump was based on "science, not politics" -- which would make it an unusual exception to the administrations ongoing policy of subjecting science to politics, as in the case of stem cell research. The 5,000 tickets to Bush's speech sold out quickly from ticket offices at Reno Toyota and R&R Partners.

OHIO. John Kerry explored Columbus and Cincinnati on Tuesday, making the seventh Ohio expedition of his campaign. His appearance was overshadowed by John Ashcroft's announcement of the indictment of an alleged terrorist in Columbus, preventing the front-page reception that Kerry's remarks on the economy otherwise would have received. Kerry's economic platform has played well in the state; the job market continues to be the most salient issue to Ohio voters, as underscored by the closing of Maytag's Hoover vacuum headquarters in industrial Canton on June 4, just three weeks after the city lost its three Timken bearings plants.

But even if residents missed Kerry this time around, they'll certainly have another chance -- several more, most likely -- to see him in the state before November. The lead flips from one presidential suitor to the other in each new poll: where Zogby found Kerry up by 4.8 points on May 24, he now has Bush by 2.8 points; where the Plain Dealer had Bush leading by slightly more than the margin of error two weeks ago, The Los Angeles Times told Ohioans that they actually preferred Kerry as of last week. With 20 electoral votes to be won, neither candidate will be letting things slide too far their opponent's way.

Compiled by The American Prospect staff.