Although I was too young to remember Hart's runs in the 80's, the more I hear about him, the more I like him. It's a shame he decidided not to run for President, but he should be the pick for VP.
Besides the pure political reasons for him to run - he immediately makes Colorado much more likely to go Dem, and helps the Senate and House races there - he would make an excellent addition to a Kerry ticket and administration. Also, he endorsed Kerry from the early going.
His policies are quite good, though he hasn't fleshed them out in full, so there will be little conflict with Kerry. He was against the Iraq War. He talked about nationwide health care, community service, an Apollo-style program to become independant from foreign oil, a consumption tax, and a helluva alot of other wonkish politics that would make alot of sense.
His military and foreign policy positions, however, are where he makes the most sense. He is one of the only people in America to forsee 9/11, predicting a terrorist attack in the Hart-Rudman Report. Noone else can criticize this administration's terrorism policies with as much clarity and personal knowledge as Hart. He has been an effective critic of pre-emption, and a for
He spent his time off from politics getting a doctorate in philosophy of politics from Oxford, of all places. He even has a divinity degree from Yale. He's written several heady books on political philosophy, desribing himself as a Jeffersonian. He's certainly got that vision thing.
It's really that last paragraph that makes me admire the guy. He's the type of politician that we should have in this country. He actually thinks, and is not dictated to by party platforms or conventional wisdom.
The only downsides I see are the Donna Rice affair, the "Kerry and Hart voted to raise taxes _ times" ads and his haircut. I think that, post-Clinton, nobody will care about Rice anyway.
Plus he used to blog