WASHINGTON -- For the political junkie, we are entering the best of times, or the worst of times. Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry clinched the Democratic nomination for the presidency on March 2 (Super Tuesday), exactly eight months to the day before the general election on Nov. 2. With President George W. Bush unopposed for his party's nomination, the gladiators are now in the arena and ready to begin a great, 241-day battle.

The race right now is almost dead even, as the electorate is totally polarized. According to a recent Associated Press poll, the Republican incumbent has 46 percent support; the Democratic challenger, 45 percent; and independent Ralph Nader, 6 percent. A few items are dangling on the Democratic side:

Kerry needs another 605 delegates at the Democratic National Convention on July 26-29 to officially become the party's presidential nominee. As of last week, he had collected 1,557 delegates with victories in 27 of the first 30 Democratic electoral contests, according to a CNN tabulation. A candidate needs 2,162 delegates out of a possible 4,322.

Half of the completed primaries must still be executed with delegates selected for ratifying the decisions made by voters in Iowa, New Hampshire and elsewhere. A platform must be written by the Kerry's issues people.

The presumed nominee must select a candidate for vice president as his running mate sometime between now and the time of the convention.

This last item has grabbed the attention of the press and gossipers. Despite the anxiety of the Democratic faithful and the news chasers, I do not believe Kerry will rush his decision. He has recruited Jim Johnson, a Washington insider who recently retired as CEO of the mortgage giant Fannie Mae, to assist him in the selection process.

No sooner had the dust settled from Kerry's Super Tuesday sweep than Bush began spending on television ads. The first wave of commercials hit the airways last Wednesday -- a $10 million investment, we are told. That means he is down to his last $110 million in the campaign war chest. He still raises money, though, at the rate of a $1 million per event.

The first round of commercials carry a positive message of the president's strong leadership in a time of national crisis and economic difficulty. Three commercials, titled "Lead," "Tested," and "Stronger, Safe," are filled with positive images of the candidate in heroic scenes. His wife, Laura, also appears.

Though the spots are warm and fuzzy, they have aroused controversy. Use of scenes from Ground Zero has caused a furor among World Trade Center survivors of 9/11. The copy in "Tested" suggests that Bush inherited a recession from his predecessor, saying, "January 2001. The challenge: an economy in recession." Unfortunately, Bush's own National Bureau of Economic Research has defined the start of the recession as March 2001 -- under his firm leadership.

I'm surprised the experts who crafted these ads fell for political lines from Bush adviser Karl Rove's shop because the ads, along with the smirk on the president's face in the "Lead" commercial, tend to reinforce the question of credibility.

The Democrats have not yet responded with paid media. Kerry continues to campaign in the remaining primary states and is using a modest amount of paid media. Move-on.org has begun a anti-Bush media campaign that is about one-fourth the size of Bush's effort. The big guns for the Kerry candidacy and the Democrats have yet to be unleashed.

The war for the Democrats will be fought on a number of fronts. The Kerry campaign will continue to devote its resources to messages suited for the general election. The Kerry finance team, under the able direction of national finance chairman Louis Susman, has embarked on an ambitious effort to match the president's economic firepower. It plans a series of events as well as direct mail and Internet fundraising appeals that it hopes will raise at least $80 million before convention time.

Meanwhile, battles are brewing on the support-group front. Democratic-leaning support groups from labor, environmental and women's groups, and other progressives have been developing independent campaigns to level the playing field for the general election campaign.

These groups have created a series of new organizations that fit the definitions of the new McCain-Feingold campaign law so that they can provide the services and media support previously provided by the soft money accounts of the party's national committee. Since most of the amazing success in building these organizations is on the Democratic side, the Republicans have challenged the Federal Elections Commission to restrict them.

Shadow Democratic organizations such as America Coming Together, the Media Fund and America Votes were created to take over the traditional party roles of financing television ads until midsummer and of mobilizing voters through Election Day. The plan is to spend as much as $300 million this year, most of it "soft money."

The Republicans say that's illegal. The FEC has reacted to these challenges by proposing new rules to govern the new organizations. Key provisions of the proposed regulations have the potential of forcing the 527 groups to spend only "hard money," consisting of contributions of $5,000 or less from individuals, or to spend a mix with 50 percent or more in hard money. Months of wrangling at the FEC have only just begun.

Bush and Kerry have one thing in common: Both declined to accept Federal Matching Funds, which were aimed at helping to support worthy primary candidacies and reducing the dependency of candidates on the moneyed class.