They're saying that as soon as the Democratic Convention is over, the White House will announce that this year's federal deficit will top $420 billion…a new record. The buzz is that (a) they're waiting to announce this so that Kerry cannot use that statistic in his speech and (b) that this will be spun as encouraging news since they had once forecast a hundred billion more.
The first point puzzles me a bit. How difficult would it be for Kerry to say, "The White House has so mismanaged this economy that they will soon have to announce the highest deficit in the history of this country"? Does he need a precise number to hammer them on this point?
I don't think the "not as bad as we feared" defense will get very far, except with folks who are already determined to support Bush no matter what and need something to say. I think it was Barry Goldwater who once said that you can't leave your supporters without a way to defend you. If the news is bad, you have to give them the "spin" (he didn't use that word) so they don't look too foolish for standing with you. One of the main things that eroded Nixon's support during the Watergate mess was that people who yearned to believe and promote "his side" of it often did not know what it was and were left speechless when his critics attacked. I sure get the feeling that a lot of Bush defenders aren't happy with the excuses they've been given to make for the deficit, the sloppy pre-war intelligence, the claims of torture, etc…