Coolness Under Fire

Sasso, who oversaw the beginning and the end of Michael Dukakis' ill-fated 1988 campaign, was sent aloft, as one ally put it, because the campaign lacked a Kerry peer who could tell the candidate when and where to get back in line. Although his odds are longer now, Kerry has plenty of time to turn it around, and he can take some small courage from the fact that a man named Al Gore was ahead four years ago next month by 11 points and still lost. And as a campaigner, Kerry has a habit of looking into the abyss before he turns things around.

But he's not in Massachusetts anymore, and as it looks elsewhere, his operation is quietly cutting its losses. A $50 million television advertising campaign, begun earlier this month and once envisioned for 20 states, is playing in only 10. Dropped for now from the ad buy are such states as Colorado, Arkansas, North Carolina, Virginia and Missouri, all once thought to be competitive for Kerry but now widely regarded as out of reach. Kerry senior strategist Tad Devine disputed the Electoral College triage in a chat with TIME, noting that Kerry had been in North Carolina and Louisiana as recently as last week.

Republicans dismissed those visits as track covering. One claimed that perhaps no more than six or seven states were up for grabs now—a third of the number in early August and a reversal of fortune from just a few weeks ago.