January 28, 2004- John F. Kerry’s back to back wins in Iowa and again in New Hampshire earned him the post position in the race for the Democratic nomination. His message seemed to resonate as well in the Northeast snow as it did on the Midwest prairie. The veteran Senator has to feel good after the first two rounds. He is again the front runner and the conventional wisdom has it that the nomination is his to lose.

Four years ago another Senator felt good after putting New Hampshire in the bag and the Straight Talk Express was steaming on track. But then Chicken George graduated from Bob Jones University and John McCain got the Karl Rove treatment. Neither John Edwards nor Wesley Clark has a Karl Rove on his staff and it is inconceivable that either would start an illegitimate black baby rumor like that launched against Senator McCain or suggest that John Kerry left his sanity in Saigon. But Senator Kerry should remember that his colleague was the 2000 Republican frontrunner after New Hampshire and that it was Senator Bradley and not Al Gore that won there in 2000.

Starting tomorrow the race turns south and west where the two Yankees, Kerry and Dean face two Sons of the South – one native born and the other adopted. Conventional wisdom has it that the General and the Trial Lawyer will have the advantage on February 3rd. They are, after all, sons of the salt of the earth pitted against the two scions of privilege. But they should reflect that it was Kerry’s fellow Bonesman, George Bush, whose silver spoon pedigree surpasses both that of Howard Dean and John Kerry that in 2000 untracked the Straight Talk Express in South Carolina.

Right now John Kerry is again the frontrunner, the odds on favorite to take on Chicken George in the fall and already Karl Rove is tuning up his attack machine. E-mails and forum postings are starting to appear linking the Senator to the Right’s favorite Vietnam era betẻ noir, Jane Fonda. The false claim is being made that Vietnam Veteran’s Against the War and the Winter Soldiers’ Investigation were bankrolled by Hanoi Jane It is not coming from Democrat rival campaigns. The chorus is being directed by Karl Rove.

If the chorus is tuning up the fat lady has not yet left her dressing room and there are many scenes to be played before the curtain falls on Act One. The next scene set in the south and west features Edwards and Clark. Edwards’ positive campaign plays to an audience hungry for a sliver of hope. Clark shares the war hero cachet without the anti-war baggage. The move south coincides with the Administration being forced to admit that it overstated the case for the Second Iraqi War even as the casualty count swells.

It is too early to anoint a Democrat standard bearer but you can bet that the trio of viable frontrunners gives Karl Rove a case of the night sweats. Just watch as Chicken George’s flock pecks at the two genuine warriors and the hopeful trial lawyer. The Party of Fear has plenty to be afraid of.