Up or Out

Real Clear Politics has posted a bunch of Super Tuesday state Democratic presidential primary preference polls. Upshot: Mr. Smiley Face is going to get crushed like a bug if he doesn't get his act together. The Brooding Botox-ed Brahmin leads Senator Edwards in every state poll, including Georgia, by huge margins.

Senator Edwards needs to do three things. He needs to nationalize the race, calling it the decisive vote of the presidential primaries. He needs to participate in 3 or 4 debates next week, regardless of whether Senator Kerry shows up or not. And finally, he needs to make President Bush's criticisms of Senator Kerry his own. With negative campaign commercials. (Ommmmmm!)

As Kaus points out, the potency of the Bush attack angle derives from the fact that it is undeniably true. Playing footsie with Howard Dean isn't going to get anything done. The Edwards campaign needs to go on the attack and stay there. If it starts to work, Dean will come along with it.