It gave him free exposure. It was like a free campaign ad. He never had the money to do much advertising, so that was like the beginning of his advertising campaign.

Hendrix doesn't have the charisma the mayor has, and that's key. But the mayor doesn't have the trust right now. If he can regain the trust of the people, then he can close the gap. Detroit doesn't generally like kicking out incumbents.

On their issues, Gore should win hands-down. He's tied with Bush now, but that's more to do with the educational issue and the family values issue ... not the right-to-life issue, but what they want their kids to be taught, right from wrong.

Going negative works if it's done in the right way. Contrasting and pointing things out is fine. But attacking Hendrix's family is not the way to go about it.

He's at 50 percent favorability plus, and finally got job rating around 50 percent. So the McCain ads have finally caught some traction.

The mayor did have the advantage among those who were unemployed and under 62 years old. And those areas of the city that were most impoverished solidly voted for the mayor.