We're working on this whole "police state" thing

This is almost worthy of The Onion:

DAVENPORT, Iowa -- Three banks were robbed while President George W. Bush and Democratic nominee John Kerry were speaking just blocks away from one another Wednesday morning.

The Ralston Credit Union was robbed at 10:45 a.m., shortly after the president began speaking at LeClaire Park in this eastern Iowa town, said Davenport police Capt. David Struckman.

The next robbery, at First National Bank, happened at 11:23 a.m., followed by another at 11:45 a.m. at Southeast National Bank, said Struckman, who also served as the department's liaison to the U.S. Secret Service during the visits from the two political leaders.

Kerry had begun his economic forum at River Center at 10 a.m.

"I'm sure they were counting on the fact that we were short-handed, but we weren't," said Struckman, adding that the patrol was at normal levels. "The only thing we had to do was pull criminal investigators."

Predictably, the Bush campaign blamed the Democrats for being soft on crime, and immediately mobilized to invade "any country that harbors the bank robbers." Meanwhile, the Kerry campaign blamed the robberies on our lack of strong alliances around the world.

Seriously, that's too funny...