The 2004 deficit was predicted, in August of 2003, to be $480 billion (at that time, the 2003 deficit was predicted to be $401 billion).

By March of 2004, the prediction for 2004 had fallen to $478 billion. Now the 2004 prediction is $422 billion.

This is a $58 billion improvement over what was predicted a year ago.

What the 2004 deficit will actually turn out to be is anyone's guess. But I would lay long odds that the deficit will not be as high as $422 billion.

It's worth noting in that context that the actual 2003 deficit turned out to be $375 billion, $26 billion better than had been predicted only a couple of months before.

So now they have to turn to long-term deficits to hang the crepe.

That, and play fast and loose with the "record deficit" concept.

Of course, the long-term budget problem is almost completely due to the massive entitlement programs that are so favored by the Left, and lately, by the Right as well. Apparently that's irrelevant.

If you look at the March predictions, there are actually two sets of numbers. The estimate of the President's budget showed a long-term cumulative deficit of 2.738 trillion. The current projection, 2.294 trillion, is actually a 444 billion dollar improvement. The number only gets worse if you look at the second set of March numbers, the CBO March baseline.

The fact is that the deficits are going down. Spin it however you like.