AFTER IOWA


In an absolute stunner, John Kerry wins the Iowa caucuses, with John Edwards finishing a strong second, Dean a distant third, and Gephardt eliminated with a poor 4th place showing. This showing completely scrambles the race going into New Hampshire. For the life of me, I can not understand the appeal of Kerry. Personal heroism does not substitute for a coherent foreign policy. He offers nothing original on domestic issues, and lacks the charisma to compete with Bush.

The good news out of Iowa is the rise of Edwards. While along with every other Democrat not named Lieberman, he lacks a coherent foreign policy he at least has some good instincts (voting for the war). The real strength of Edwards however is that he is both the most innovative candidate with respect to domestic policy, and has the communication skills to put Bush on the defensive in the general election. If Lieberman doesn't make it to New York (which considering the self-destructive interests of this party is a likely possibility) hopefully John Edwards will. If the Dems can't put their best message forward against Bush, then at least they can but forward their best messenger.