Not to rain on Kerry's parade today (he officially hit the delegate count number), but I wanted to pose a serious question regarding the '08 election (if we are allowed to have elections, that is). A lot has been bandied about insofar as it being a Hillary v. Gore heavyweight primary season (with Edwards/Clark breaking for Hillary as presumptive VP picks and Dean breaking for Gore), and it is certainly a fair scenario (and surely one that the SCLM would love to eat up).
But, supposing Nader fucks us again, garners 5-6 percent of the vote (which i would not put past voters), and insures a Bush win. Could we risk running two DLC centrists in Hillary/Edwards, let us say? Wouldn't we be setting ourselves up for ANOTHER challenge from our left flank
If Kerry loses, more and more people are likely to feel disenfranchised by the Dem establishment and look elsewhere--green, independent, etc--for their political affiliation. This could pose a Perot-sized rift in the '08 general (if we can't get our shit together and back Kerry in the most dire of times, how are we ever going to get people to back Hillary?). That leaves a potential Gore/Dean ticket in the wings, as Dean would likely bring in the disenfranchised voter to supplement Gore's presumed establishment credentials (which, in truth, are probably not all that great right now).
Scary thoughts for an early sunday morning...