While this material was unfolding, just across the Potomac River in Washington's fashionable - and open-minded - Dupont Circle, Teri Galvez agreed to open her elegant four-story home to the Dupont Circle House Tour.

"This is the second time I have been asked to do it," Galvez tells us. "My house has been on HGTV twice, so it is always a draw for folks who want to see the renovation of a historical property.

"Anyway, I took the tour myself to see everyone else's home. I saw many Kerry signs and quite a few nasty Bush signs, such as 'Re-defeat Bush,' et cetera."

Then again, what more culturally sensitive neighborhood than trendy Dupont Circle to celebrate tolerance of thy neighbor?

"Well," Galvez says, "one house monitor thought my five Bush signs might be offensive to those in Dupont Circle, and he took them down."

Are you serious?

"I came back to my house to pick up my dog and saw that they had been removed," she says.

So what happened next?

"I put (the Bush signs) back at 3:30 p.m. when the tour was almost over and threatened to shut my house down if they were removed again. What do you think about that?"

GRAB YOUR SHOVELS

So, former President Bill Clinton, what's your prediction going into the final two weeks of the 2004 presidential mudslinging?

"This race truly is too close to call. The outcome in state after state will be determined by whether our side can respond to the last-minute avalanche of mud we fully expect to come our way."

KERRY A CHURCH

Here's a twist: The conservative Family Research Council is looking to team up (sort of) with Sen. John Kerry on the issues of free speech and church and state.

In a letter to the Democratic presidential nominee, council Vice President Connie Mackey is formally requesting that Kerry - "upon his return to Congress" - sponsor a Senate companion bill to the House side's Houses of Worship Political Speech Protection Act.

The unusual request comes in the wake of Kerry's presence of late as guest speaker during Sunday services at several houses of worship nationwide. Earlier this month, for example, Kerry joined preachers - the Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton - for services at Friendship Missionary Baptist Church in Miami. During the service, the senator was endorsed from the pulpit by the church's pastor.

In her letter, Mackey suggests legislation Kerry might propose could "restore freedom of speech to our country's churches, mosques and synagogues," and "is an important defense to the basic right of free speech," which the council considers a top priority.

"(B)y the use of the tax code, churches and other houses of worship are scared into silence on matters of public morality because of sensitivity to political restrictions," she states.

The proper interpretation of "separation of church and state," the council notes, has been debated by both political parties in reference to endorsements by members of the clergy.