Editor, the News-Herald:

Regarding the article on your &uot;Opinion&uot; page from February July 2, &uot;It’s a body bag election,&uot; in-breeding doesn’t produce healthy offspring, nor does it produce reliable information. This article has a New York Daily News writer reporting results of a CBS-New York Times poll that doesn’t really address the bottom line.

The serious question concerns not how well our citizens think President Bush is performing, but how well President Bush is thought to be doing among those poll respondents who are mot likely to vote in November.

The bottom line with this most important group of respondents as of July 2shows the President leading senator Kerry by a range of 7 to 10 percent.

Some people talk about voting, while others actually vote. Register and get to the polls on election day. Also, exercise discretion so to not be taken in be in-bred news reporting.

Doug Stewart

Courtland