Editor's Note: The Boss enters the fray. Will it matter?

I was wandering around a bookstore the other day when I passed a woman perusing a table covered with political books. I had already checked out the section and noted the overwhelming percentage of titles condemning President Bush for one thing or another. The woman, clearly offended by the onslaught of anti-Bush literature, remarked to her husband that she wondered if there was a table of books with positive things to say about the president.

At that point, I wanted to interject that if any such books existed, they would be very, very short.

The fact is, Bush is not faring well at the bookstores. Writers are coming out of the woodwork to blast him in this election year. He's getting hammered on Iraq, on terrorism, on the economy, on the environment, on domestic security, on civil liberties, on his ties to Saudi Arabia--you name the topic and there's a book outlining Bush's shortcomings. Plus, the magazine racks are loaded with articles pounding Bush and his neoconservative lieutenants.

Bush is taking a beating at the box office as well. From Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 to Outfoxed to several other movies that haven't yet made it to Las Vegas, Bush and his ilk are the punching bags of the silver screen.

Bush is also getting pummeled at the record stores. Several CD compilations, most notably Rock Against Bush, have been released, aimed at encouraging young voters to go to the polls and, ideally, to vote against the president. In addition, many musicians have produced songs, or even entire albums, condemning the war in Iraq.

And there's more. Bush is seeing an onslaught of venomous intent in the clubs and arenas. It's not just Linda Ronstadt subtly dedicating a song to Michael Moore at a Las Vegas performance. Musicians are making impassioned statements and urging fans to vote against Bush. The latest and most aggressive tactic is an all-star concert tour, "Vote for Change," spearheaded by Bruce Springsteen and also featuring Jackson Browne, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews, Eddie Vedder and Bonnie Raitt.

Springsteen, who generally prefers to speak his mind through the artistry of his music, has come on strong in recent interviews and an eloquent op-ed piece in the New York Times. "This is one of the most critical elections of my lifetime, certainly since I was a young man," he told Rolling Stone. "It's a matter of the preservation and protection of democracy, of having an open and transparent leadership and sustaining the trust of your citizenry. If you blow that, you've blown it all. I believe that's what's happening with this administration."

So, as you can see, the vaunted liberal (mass) media are doing everything within their power to expose Bush's weaknesses and to show readers, viewers and listeners why they should vote for Kerry. It's an impressive onslaught, really, and one might think all this intellectual, artistic and partisan effort would tip the scales decisively in Kerry's favor.

I'm not convinced. It's pretty clear that at least 90 percent of potential voters made up their minds a long time ago. The country is basically split down the middle on Bush vs. Kerry, and has been for months. We can argue all day about the minor differences between the candidates on Iraq, but everyone knows there are big, big differences between Bush and Kerry in the way they view the world and how they would handle an array of issues.

The nation is highly polarized, thanks to the Iraq war, to cynical conservative media tactics and to the general nature of presidential election campaigns. As a result, the roughly 45 percent going for Bush and 45 percent going for Kerry are unlikely to change their votes. That leaves 10 percent "undecided," a group of people who probably aren't too politically oriented if they don't yet know who they are going to vote for in November.

These are the folks the authors, filmmakers and musicians must be hoping to reach. If you're a big Springsteen fan and an undecided voter, it's possible that the Boss' opposition to Bush could tip the scales for you. But there probably is an equal number of undecideds who will be turned off by the notion of musicians delving into politics and could, in response, either vote for Bush or not vote at all. It's a tricky business.

As for the plethora of books and articles documenting Bush's failings, many of them are excellently researched and written, making a very strong case for the president's ouster, but I worry that as far as the election is concerned, they are merely preaching to the choir.

Because, of course, the conservatives are smarter than they look. They may not have the upper hand right now in book publishing, moviemaking or record producing, but they control the two most influential media for political discourse: television and radio. There could be a hundred books in circulation exploiting the Bush administration's weaknesses and dozens of albums with left-leaning political overtones, but they are no match for the cynical bombast of AM radio's Rush Limbaugh or cable TV's Bill O'Reilly.

Television, in particular, is where the real battle is taking place. The latest assault from the right comes from a group of Vietnam vets who claim Kerry wasn't really a war hero at all. It's all B.S., of course, not backed by any credible information, but the Republicans are well aware of that. This is rough partisan politics as it's been played since the beginning of the republic, and the Republicans, of late, are better at it. These attack ads are working, according to polls, and I fear that the effect of Bruce Springsteen's barnstorming concert tour, as heartfelt and well-meaning as it surely is, will pale in comparison to a handful of lying TV spots.

I sincerely hope I'm wrong.

--GEOFF SCHUMACHER