The Democratic Party has now gathered in the US city of Boston to formally appoint its nominee to try and unseat George Bush for the Presidency. There are now just under 100 days to go before the election and if most nation-wide polls are to be believed, this race is dead even. Therefore, this week's Democratic Convention may turn out to be the best chance John Kerry gets to put some distance between himself and President Bush.

Political observers in Washington believe at the absolute most no more than about 12 percent of the American electorate remains undecided. There are more than 4,300 delegates attending this convention, all of them united in the single goal of removing George Bush from office. Therefore strategists believe the Democrats will use this week not to bash the President and portray him in a negative light but instead to praise John Kerry and highlight his biography and record...the logic being with the base already highly motivated the Democrats can go after those elusive swing votes.

Nevertheless, Democrats like Rahm Emmanuel -a Congressman and former senior political advisor to Bill Clinton- want the candidate to draw clear lines of distinction.

But even if the Democrats enjoy a convention that far exceeds expectations -and if John Kerry delivers and acceptance speech that sends him hurtling ahead of George Bush in the polls- they still have reason for caution.

The last time a liberal Democrat from Massachusetts -with a southerner as his running mate- ran against a man called George Bush was in 1988 when Michael Dukakis squared off against the current President's father. Mr. Dukakis left his convention with a 17-point lead in the polls. But on Election Day, he was trounced.