Baby, Don't Get Hooked on Me

With a terse David and Goliath metaphor as his guide, Senator Evan Bayh bowed out of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination this weekend. Now, weeks ago when Governor Mark Warner gave a pass to the race this was easy to rationalize, but Evan Bayh had both the resume and cash to hit the ground running. What's with these guys? Suddenly the thick political oxygen of celebrity and donorship is thinning for white men, and they're fading into the wilderness faster than you can say, "Obama".

Most analysts suppose Bayh's Bye-Bye is good news for John Edwards, and I would agree. Hotline on Call suggests Edwards will become the only "crusader" in the field, although it seems pretty ridiculous to call a populist-tinged candidate a "crusader" while allowing religion-and-values-heavy candidates like W. in 2000 or Romney in 2008 the mantle of "reformer." Methinks the labels should be switched, and that Edwards' eventual mantra, should he run, will be much more in line with reform and realism than the stark moral "crusading" of men like Romney or Huckabee.

It's all in the labels.

It seems Hillary is making the TV talk-show rounds this week for the re-release of her book "It Takes a Village," now sporting a full-color photo of the Senator surronded by happy children. Does anyone else notice the irony in Hillary repackaging an old work rather than writing something fresh for public consumption? It takes a cynic.

Update: Political bravery delayed is good policy denied. She makes me sick.

In case you missed it like I did, here's a week-old Washington Post column from David Broder regarding Tom Vilsack, titled, "An Iowan You Should Know."