other than dark theories that he is just another corporate plant. (What happened to the old accusations he was just another DLC choice?)

His record as a beginner is ever this optimistic, polite and open humility toward the establishment he is joining. I think he came to view the second Senate term as a moral trap and practical uncertainty. What he had learned was he was getting taken, defined and set up. he saw the only possibilities as being a presidential candidate. I think he learned that early on in trying to be Gore's running mate but only crystallized his nature after an awkward 2004 run. An honest man who learns hard and then goes ballistic for the common man. Is he a classic pure liberal? No, he has the homespun, respect for authority conservatism as part of his make-up, a more genuine religion, a more genuine personal morality.

Has he learned all the lessons? Is he ready for everything? Until we have a dozen DK's running and voting in Congress, his is an extraordinary candidacy. Common roots. Anti-corporate track record. Shoved aside rather than enabled by the establishment whenever he accommodated. A better personal moral life than lost past presidents. Most openly committed to progressive change than a great majority of presidents. More accidental advantages in the electoral system.

Many people channel Truman, but the huffy media ever turns up its aristocratic collective nose against the real "give'em hell" campaign. Truman was pushed and pushed back liberally with a Senate record every bit as accommodating as the establishment could wish. With a state machine a lot more tainted. Edwards does it with a winning smile and they call him negative.

In the search for the perfect candidate, we have none. Do any exist? The problem is in the aggregate insufficiency of the present ruined representation within the party leadership. Our fears and demands are based on fears we are becoming as choiceless(not yet) as the current cartoon of the GOP. But in looking at Edwards(much can be said of the others as well) we see the potential and the personal attributes far superior in ways to our greatest presidents. And unfortunately, we have great times being imposed upon us. Millard Fillmores will not do. Thomas Jefferson would be destroyed as Strom Thurmond would not for having a black mistress. Jefferson had mansion- with slaves- as well and would be destroyed my modern slavemasters. The only benchmark where we sadly reminisce is the very very few presidents who were popular and skilled rhetoricians AND stump pols. The ghost of JFK whose actual first term was riddled with mistakes and lack of strong follow through. Teddy Roosevelt was an accident for the GOP that had none such after Lincoln, the master of the spoken political word.

Now, with Edwards, we have the speech that comes from within the populace as much as it is above in leadership. We have less faith in ourselves versus the treasonous establishment that weighs down our souls and shutters our eyes and floods our ears with a cacophony of evil. His weakness is ours. Time to be strong again, for ALL of us to be the lone Truman. The message is right and so is the man and the moment cries for something so much, that if we fall short, the cost will be unimaginable as it is another gift to the Bush crime family- against all reason and morality.

You can argue for other candidates. At least our work is cut out for us because there is no reliance simply on a Kennedy, a TR or FDR, who can be taken down with the bulk of the agenda by a mere bullet.
The human wave cannot be defined only by the leader chosen by our harrowing primary process. The reason we do not have as many potential leaders and less faith in our possibilities is that we have been dispossessed, despised and misled. We choose as best we can and move as one.