C'MON, DEMMYCRATS: Don't make me vote for Kerry. Don't make me vote for Nader again. I mean--Kerry? He's, like, what "ambition to be president" looks like devoid of any individual style or distinctive policy. Somebody was saying on tv last night that he's a skilled debater and that may be true but he looks like somebody who can win a debate on points but not really help himself out at all in getting-votes terms. Because whatever he says he'll have to say in that droning, passionless voice that resembles one of Graham Chapman's stockbroker characters on Python.

And here's what Kaus said:

Some emailers--not many!--have asked about my preferences. Right now,they are, in order: Edwards / Dean / Gephardt / Lieberman / a Bush-Clark tossup / the complete telephone books of all major American cities / Kerry. ...I'm a character voter, not an "issues" voter. Candidates will change their current "issues" positions after the election. New issues will crop up. The best handle we have to predict how a candidate will actually perform in office is character.

And Kerry does lack character--he's a total cipher. Anyway, I'm not that worried. Haven't like the last three or four Iowa winners gone on to lose the nomination? Plus a long-term four-way Edwards/Clark/Dean/Kerry battle promises to be fun FUN television, leading up to a possibly meaningful Super Tuesday. In a competitve election year your NFL season merges seamlessly with the primaries, leading up to the NBA playoffs and then the Olympics. My tv viewing is alllllll set.

UPDATE: Two words (as Nick Gillespie reminds me): Comeback Kerry. A nation groans and slaps its collective forehead.