The Democratic campaign begins | Michael Tomasky

Barack Obama used Labor Day weekend to start to roll out the notions the Democrats are going to try to run on - the same weekend that more polls came predicting a Republican wipe out.

This past weekend marks the traditional start of the US fall campaign season. So if you're a traditionalist, it stands to reason that that's when Obama would start campaigning in earnest. But tradition has its limits. The problem is that the Republicans never stop campaigning. The Democrats, 16 years - that's...