WASHINGTON -- Only 208 days are left in this presidential campaign. From the intensity that both President George W. Bush and Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry are going at it, you would think that decision day is next week. The advertising is pouring out over the airwaves at mid-October frequency and the tone of the campaign rhetoric seems a bit frantic for so early in the battle.

Why so early? Well, Bush is trying to copy the game plan that former President Bill Clinton used against Kansas Sen. Bob Dole in his 1996 re-election campaign. Clinton used early television advertising in the key battleground states to define his opponent before the formalities of the campaign began after Labor Day. It worked for Clinton, and Bush thinks it will work for him. Kerry is responding with his own salvo of ads that provide voters with a view of himself while taking a few nasty swipes at Bush.

The fact is that they both can and will keep this up throughout much of the summer. Bush met his announced fundraising goal of $170 million with a wrap-up fundraiser earlier this month in Washington. Kerry is not nearly so well heeled, but his fundraising is beginning to generate the kind of money that will keep him competitive. He raised more than $43 million in the first quarter of 2004 -- a record for a Democrat. The "progressive" support groups have the kind of money that will keep the heat on Bush.