Edwards's innate appeal to moderates frees him up to say more [View All]

[AP]

liberal things than I suspect Kerry will be able to say.

I've noticed that Edwards does really well with moderate demographics (white, male suburbanites, with high incomes). He has done this from NH to WI while delivering speeches about looking after the 37 million poor people in the country, taxing cap gains at 25% rather than 15% if you make over 300K, and while talking about race at EVERY stop.

I suspect that Kerry will be running from the liberal label, and will be forced to say things that sound more conservative than Kerry might actually be.

I'm not making a value judgement on either of these strategies, and I totally accept Bill Clinton's mantra, "for a Dem to win, you have to look moderate, and say just enough so the far left doesn't think you're their enemy."

I'm just preparing people for the inevitable. Kerry WILL have to sound more conservative than he really is if he gets nominated and smart people here will shut the fuck up about it so that he can win. Edwards will have the luxury of being able to talk about the poor, progressive tax, public education, etc., until the cows come home becaue people will still perceive him as a moderate.