Reply #26: Not enough shark attacks or frisky intern gossip

[Lexingtonian]

is about half of it. People fixate on the candidates as if they could singlehandedly save the universe. Ok, maybe one or the other or all of them together can save the universe, but it's more fun arguing about it for a lot of armchair warriors here than getting their asses (donkeys?) in motion for the candidate.

But it is in fact all also reflective of a serious and painful debate within the Party leadership and activists about who the Party really represents and how and why and what for. The nominee is going to be an older white male and most of the job description is fixing what Bush broke and getting Democratic majorities in Congress. The question is what we do after that, what kind of country we get on track after that.

The argument IMHO is largely between middle class whites, who primarily want the corporate world reformed, and the non-white constituencies, who most want opportunity to participate on good and equal terms in the public life. It comes at a time when about 40% (my guesstimate) of solid Democratic voters are non-white and a good number of (mostly white) swing voters are giving the Party another good look.