"It is the not-so-secret secret of every presidential campaign that most crowds at most campaign stops are so much stage prop," writes Paul Vitello. Case in point: George Bush's visit to U.S.A. Industries in Bay Shore, Long Island, NY on Thursday. Bush "gave his speech...

Not unexpectedly, months of high-profile Bush-bashing by Democratic presidential contenders haven't helped the Bush campaign. "On the Democratic side, you saw pictures of their campaigns busy with guys out in their shirt-sleeves, yelling and screaming and working hard.

California legislators want to stop the use of all paperless electronic voting machines in the state, fearing the same type of fiasco that plagued Florida in the 2000 election. State Sens. Don Perata (D-Oakland) and Ross Johnson (R-Irvine), the chairman and vice chairman of the Senate election committee, have written a letter to Secretary of State Kevin Shelley, urging him to decertify all paperless touch-screen voting machines before the general election. The March 2 primary "was a test-flight of widespread use of these machines.