The field of potential Democratic nominees is narrowing. Voters can prepare for a campaign with real momentum that will test their candidates' fortitude.
Published February 5, 2004
After impressive wins now in seven of the first nine presidential contests, John Kerry and some of his supporters in the Democratic Party hierarchy may be ready to tell President Bush to "bring it on." But neither Kerry nor Democratic voters are served by a rush to anoint.
The Tuesday results certainly helped to narrow the field. Joe Lieberman, the centrist U.S. senator from Connecticut, showed characteristic grace as he dropped his campaign in the face of humiliating results in Delaware. And Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor, showed an unappealing intemperance in the face of his disastrous showing. But if the Democratic nomination is down to the three candidates who have each won at least one primary so far - Kerry, John Edwards and Wesley Clark - then voters in 41 remaining states face a treat, not a chore.
Exit polls suggest these three men are being judged on some appealing political qualities: Kerry, the U.S. senator from Massachusetts, for his service in Vietnam, prosecutorial experience and nearly two decades in Washington; Edwards, the U.S. senator from North Carolina, for his middle-class roots and connection to families with day-to-day economic worries; Clark, the retired four-star general from Arkansas, for a career of military leadership that included his commanding the U.S. forces in Kosovo. But campaigns are supposed to reach beyond the resumes and test the mettle of a candidate.
Kerry, for example, has to continue to square his voting record with his campaign pitch, not only on Iraq but on such issues as the No Child Left Behind Act. Edwards, a trial lawyer, can't readily claim to "clean up" the Washington political machine if he won't come clean on the money he has received from other lawyers. Clark, who has made clumsy claims about stopping terrorists, needs to show voters he can thrive in an environment where not everyone is obligated to salute and nod affirmatively.
Whether Edwards now shows up Kerry in Tennessee and Virginia next week or whether all three candidates face a showdown in Michigan this weekend, the Democratic Party has everything to gain by continued and vigorous debate. Exit polls reveal a palpable anger toward President Bush, and the candidates have tapped into the heightened concerns about jobs and health care. The latest Gallup poll giving Kerry or Edwards an edge over the president may not mean much in November, but it at least demonstrates that the media coverage surrounding the primary campaign is helping Democrats to be heard. In tight races, the cameras follow all the horses.
Kerry may indeed become the Democratic nominee, but, as of Tuesday, he had only 246 of the 2,162 delegates he will need to win the convention in Boston. He hasn't shown he can win in the South, and even some of the people who voted for him Tuesday say they think Edwards is more likely to, as Bill Clinton used to put it, feel their pain. A strenuous campaign will only make each of these men better candidates, and Democrats in populous states such as Florida deserve more than just to clean up after the party. Elections weren't meant to be quick and easy, and this one ain't over yet.
