requiem for Kerry

The writing is on the wall for Kerry - the question is, will he recognize it and bow out with dignity or will he waste his own fortunes and undermine his pride in trying to hang on? Billmon lays out the grim facts:

All Kerry has left are his war hero resume and his wife's fortune. The former has little appeal to the upscale left, which has returned to its McGovernite roots. And Gen. Clark is a much more plausible choice for hawkish moderates -- as well as for pragmatic liberals who think only a candidate with strong national security credentials can beat Bush.

That leaves the fortune, which Kerry is considering tapping if he follows Dean's lead and exits the public campaign financing system. But for Dean, leaving the system was a show of political strength -- in that it will enable him to exploit more fully the fantastic grassroots fundraising system he's created. But for Kerry, it would be a sign of weakness, an admission that only his vast personal wealth makes it possible for him to remain competitive with Dean's money machine.

You have to wonder if the result wouldn't be a drastic tapering off in Kerry's outside fundraising (why throw good money after bad if the candidate is going to do it for you?) forcing him to rely more and more heavily on his own money. Not the best way to demonstrate your political vitality.

It's hard to see a way out for Kerry -- barring a sudden and complete implosion in the Dean campaign, which is going to take something much worse than a Confederate flag bumper sticker. If, like most Democratic nominations, this one boils down to a race between a "liberal" and a "moderate," then Kerry has already lost the primary within the primary. Now it's Dean versus the anti-Dean. And Kerry isn't even in the running for the latter position.