In 2000, George W. Bush garnered nearly half of the Muslim American vote, keeping him close in states like Michigan and surely helping his bid to win the Presidency. Caryle Murphy has an interesting article entitled "Muslims Seen Abandoning Bush" in tomorrow morning's Washington Post that shows the community is not nearly as supportive of Bush as it was four years ago. She writes:

Absar Chowdhury of Sterling cast his ballot for George W. Bush in 2000 because the Republican candidate vowed to stop the use of secret evidence in deportation hearings, was against abortion and "looked like he was religious."

But the Bangladesh-born Muslim said he will vote for Democrat John F. Kerry next week because President Bush has disappointed him in several ways. In particular, Chowdhury cited an erosion of civil liberties, including the continuing use of secret evidence, and the war in Iraq, which has left thousands of Iraqis and more than 1,100 Americans dead.

"He was saying that he was religious, but the Fifth Commandment says we shall not kill," said Chowdhury, 45, a computer center shift manager.

Chowdhury is emblematic of a dramatic switch among Muslim American voters. Four years ago, 42 percent of them voted for Bush. But in this year's race, they are expected to vote overwhelmingly for his opponent, with one recent poll showing 76 percent of the Muslim vote going to Kerry and 7 percent to Bush.

Murphy indicates that there us a large number of Muslim Americans in states like Virginia, and this certainly bodes well for John Kerry. If they indeed turn out in force and vote anywhere near the margin of the poll reported in this article, John Kerry will be that much closer to 270, and thus the White House.