1.5 hours until tee-off time and so far the chit chat on teevee is pretty much, "How can Obama/Edwards attack Hillary and drive up her negatives without driving up his own?" The obvious solution to this particular puzzle is precisely the answer that none of the candidates will choose. None of the candidates is capable of setting aside the demands of his own ego in order to ensure that Hillary, and by extension, the politics of triangulation, are not allowed to represent the Democratic party in another presidency.
To displace the seeming inevitability of Hillary's nomination, the other candidates must give up their individual campaigns and unite behind one person. There are a couple of ways that this could work...
The candidates could unite behind someone who is not currently running, i.e. Al Gore. What are the chances that he would decline if asked by a united front of Edwards, Obama, Dodd, Biden, Richardson, Kucinich and Gravel or, really, any grouping of three or more of them? Of course, they could choose to unite behind one of their own - most likely Edwards or Obama given money and poll numbers. The designated challenger would agree to hold the left line on certain key issues and in exchange would have at least three strong surrogates who would challenge Hillary among key constituencies around the country.
Gad, I'd love to believe that Hillary is triangulating a la her husband in order to get elected, but secretly plans on governing from the left once elected, but that's about as likely as Hillary renouncing her vote on the Iraq war or on the PATRIOT Act.
Liberal ideas have been willfully and systematically demonized in the U.S. at least since FDR's presidency and arguably since before our founding - the Puritans weren't exactly the free-thinkers of their day.
