>>> Jim Devine Charles Brown wrote: > Is the emptiness of the Democratic Party the lack of charm of its > presidential candidates ?
in some ways. The _real_ primaries (the collection of campaign contributions) favors anyone who can rake in the bucks, whether they have charm or not. Thus, Mondale, Dukakis, Kerry, & Gore. The real primaries filter out anyone like Edwards, who followed a "populist" path, and discourage people like Gore from going down that path. This undermines the candidate's charm. If Gore had gone with his initial "populist" leanings, he would have been much more interesting. -- ^^^^^^^^ CB: I've been thinking the "emptiness" is more like what Carrol and Lou Pro raise consistently - fake champions of working class interests, diverting and smothering popular and working class movements, etc.
