Candidates' leadership styles reveal sharp contrasts.(St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

Byline: Deirdre Shesgreen

WASHINGTON _ Forget the color-coded election maps with the Bush states in red and Kerry states in blue. If this presidential election has to be reduced to colors, it's black & white vs. gray.

Those are the hues in which Bush and Kerry see the world.

Bush governs from his gut, Kerry from his brain. Bush makes decisions fast and doesn't look back; Kerry consults widely and often revises. Bush sees a world of good and evil, Kerry sees a world of complexities.

Allan Lichtman, a presidential historian at American University, said the differing styles of Bush and Kerry fit almost perfectly into philosopher Isaiah Berlin's political paradigm: that all leaders can be classified as either "hedgehogs" or "foxes."

"The hedgehog knows one or two things but they know them really well ... and sees the world very simply and very directly," Lichtman said. "The fox sees nuances and subtleties and knows something about everything."

In this race, "George Bush is the classic hedgehog. He has a few priorities. He doesn't waver. Nothing distracts him. He bowls on ahead regardless," Litchman said. "John Kerry is the classic fox. He knows something about everything. He has his finger in every pie. He wants to be in on every decision."