Wake Up Democrats!

Despite not having done squat in Tennessee until a couple weeks ago, a new Mason-Dixon poll shows that Senator Kerry leads in Tennessee:

John Kerry 31%
Wesley Clark 22%
John Edwards 13%
Howard Dean 7%
Joe Lieberman 6%
Al Sharpton 3%
Dennis Kucnich —
Undecided 18%

So what accounts for Kerry’s surge to the top? Apparently all the undecideds are taking their marching orders from the media, which has coronated Kerry the inevitable nominee.
What might a Kerry victory mean for the Democratic ticket in November?

[Mason-Dixon pollster Brad] Coker said he doubted Kerry could keep up with Bush in Tennessee as the November election neared, saying Southerners Clark and Edwards might be more competitive.
”Tennesseans are more likely to vote for Bush than a New England Democrat,” said Coker. Kerry is a senator from Massachusetts. Coker noted that the state usually votes Republican and that Bush beat Tennessee son Al Gore in 2000.
”What we’re seeing with Kerry on top is that he’s the flavor of the week,” Coker said. ” … We’ll have to wait to see if he’s the flavor of the month.”

I don’t have major issues with Kerry, but you can see this a mile a way. If Kerry wins the nomination, the Bush campaign is going to spend $100+ million portraying him as a liberal Taxachusetts Ted Kennedy clone, and you might as well write off a big chunk of the electoral map.
Democratic voters concerned about electability this fall need to tune out the media script and think long and hard about who will best weather the Rove attack machine.
It’s not John Kerry.