Kerry and Edwards
I'm not sure Kerry could have chosen any better than Edwards. The running mate is supposed to help in states where the presidential candidate is weak. Edwards should help Kerry in the South, or least in border states including Arkansas and Tennessee, both of which Gore lost. (Maybe even Gephardt's Missouri, which Gore also lost; and Bob Graham's Florida). Maybe Edwards' talk about saving jobs will resonate in the rust belt, including Ohio and Michigan.
Edwards certainly offers a great story. His career is certainly more impressive than W before 2000, or Dan Quayle before 1988.
Kerry/Edwards will still have problems beating Bush. It almost seems to go back to the old problem: the party out of office wants to say there are problems, etc., but the Democrats seem tempted to say: there are people permanently (or systemically) excluded from prosperity, the very optimism of the winners causes them to forget the losers, etc.--so that they end up with a downer message: things aren't as good as they seem, and no one should enjoy what they have unless or until the worst off (or the resentful people who have recently lost jobs) are somehow provided for.
This downer message seems like a loser in American politics. Mickey Kaus blames part of it on Bob Schrum (scroll down to "The Downside"); it seems to go back to Patrick Caddell's "malaise" message, which infected Carter and then candidate Jerry Brown.
Tariffs as a solution to lost industrial jobs, when the U.S. has benefitted so much from free trade? Letting the teachers' unions keep "fixing" the public schools? Populism tilted against large corporations? It does seem this speaks for that aspect of the left which requires victims with grievances in order to stay in business.
Kaus says (scroll down to "Winning Kerry Message") the Democrats need a slogan that says: whether you have agreed with Bush up to now or not, he has brought about historic change in a short time; let's catch our breath, and assess where we are. For that we don't need a hothead, but someone's who's willing to keep the country at peace for a while. Kaus hates Kerry's attempted slogan "Let America be America again," since there is nothing unAmerican about Bush. He also doesn't want references to "Normalcy." Maybe: "Let's Appreciate This Moment in History." (I think "Thank God for Interesting Times" would be going too far).
Oh, and as Matthew Yglesias says: don't promise to free a lot of inmates from prison, even if you happen to think there are too many of them there.
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