David Brooks in today's NY Times has it right on the stupid perception of "electability".
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/31/opinion/31BROO.html
So New Hampshire voters who had dismissed Kerry as a pathetic, unelectable loser days before . . . figured that if he could win an election, he must be electable (which is sort of definitional), and concluded he is a triumphantly electable winner. Now Kerry is riding this great wave of electability, and he has a huge seething army of fanatical Kerry supporters who will follow him to the death, unless, of course, he stumbles -- in which case they will abandon him faster than you can say "electability." In which case, John, don't let the door hit you on the way out.