The press kit distributed to reporters at the Democratic National Convention shrewdly listed Elvis Aron Presley as Entertainment Coordinator, and Clinton staff I.D.s included mock-ups of the Elvis stamp with a horn-blowing Clinton replacing the King. Eager to get in on the act, running mate Al Gore began his convention speech by remarking that he never thought he would be "the warm-up act for Elvis."

Lest the message be lost, Clinton posed with an Elvis look-alike in Nashville last week and opted to go negative: "I don't think Bush would have liked Elvis very much--and that's just another thing that's wrong with him." Just two days ago, he endorsed Wisconsin Democratic senatorial candidate Russ Feingold because "Elvis supports him." Speaking at the site of Elvis' second-to-last concert, the governor noted that "it's well known that I commune with his spirit, and just as I walked in here today, he said, `I'm for Russ Feingold, not Bob Kasten."'

While Elvis hasn't explicitly endorsed Clinton, it's clear where his allegiances lie. According to the Weekly World News, a leading extraterrestrial envoy heartily supports Clinton's quest. ("Alien Backs Clinton," August 11, page one.) And since Elvis has been known to consort with the UFO crowd while traveling through the Bermuda Triangle, one can extrapolate that he supports the governor's campaign.

You see, this election isn't about change. It's not about trust, either. It's about Elvis. And for George Bush to pull off an upset in November, he'll need to address the Elvis factor more frequently than he has so far in his anemic campaign.

Bush's convention speech was a dramatic exception. Accusing Clinton of constantly taking numerous positions on a single issue, the president remarked that the Arkansas governor "has been spotted in more places than Elvis." And a few minutes later, he bashed Clinton's "Elvis Economics."

But in a nation where over 1,000 citizens are Elvis impersonators, where at the current rate of growth one in 12 American males will be Elvis mimics by the close of the century, Bush must do more or accept that his party will be brought to its knees by the Elvis Gap.

Elvis' spirit lives on. Sure, he's dead, more or less, and that might prevent him from landing a Cabinet post. But for the Democrats, he is the resurrection and the life, the savior for a party that has lost symbolic turf for a decade and a half. And for the nation, his renaissance marks the beginning of new era.

In his victory speech on November 3, Bill Clinton will doubtless thank many people. But he owes his greatest debt to a fellow Southerner who has been waiting 15 years for the chance to serve his country once again. If Clinton wins, Elvis lives.