TIME's cover story this week: It's Lonely At the Top.

Yes, it's true that Florida Congressman Clay Shaw has been running radio ads to boast of his record working closely with a President, but the one he's talking about is Bill Clinton.

The campaign trail is not the only place where Bush is watching his friends scatter.... Iraq is what has put the President on the eve of a possible rebuke by voters. And if Bush were a different kind of politician—if he loved political jawboning like Lyndon Johnson or could show political elasticity like Bill Clinton—this moment might be less significant. But Bush has perfected the art of governing from inside his razor-thin majority, and is proud above all of his ideological toughness...

Even the President knows this election has become a national referendum on him and his performance... The President is now being featured in 89 separate TV commercials for Democratic House candidates nationwide.

And how's this for a taste of things to come:

In fact, when it comes to deploying its Executive power, which is dear to Bush's understanding of the presidency, the President's team has been planning for what one strategist describes as "a cataclysmic fight to the death" over the balance between Congress and the White House if confronted with congressional subpoenas it deems inappropriate. The strategist says the Bush team is "going to assert that power, and they're going to fight it all the way to the Supreme Court on every issue, every time, no compromise, no discussion, no negotiation."

The article finishes with an interesting Bush quote:

"They can say what they want about me, but at least I know who I am, and I know who my friends are."