Triumph of the Bland

...According to some union activists, the AFL is hoping to push Edwards's chances of being the VP nominee...

...Edwards's whole message was more coherent, succinct, and rousing than Kerry's...

...I'm not going to pretend this country can do better without it...

...and "There are such obvious things we should be doing . . . first close these loopholes for companies taking jobs overseas...

...But it's unlikely that either will have much pull at the convention...

...He condemned U.S...

...After the cheering subsided, however, he explained that he was talking about the enforcement of patent laws...

...Pretty vague...

...Departing into A Gore-caliber wonkiness, he went on to say we should all have "smart cards"-electronic IDs with our health history encoded on them...

...That could at least put an anti-NAFTA voice in the White House, and someone who opposed Fast Track...

...While Dean and Edwards were thrilling crowds in downtown Madison on the eve of the primary there, over at the Aliant Center-an arena named for its corporate sponsor, a local energy company-a tame audience of preselected questioners and firefighters in union shirts applauded politely for Kerry...

...The fundraising champion frontrunner will set the tone for the election...

...Kerry has voted for every free trade pact to come his way in the Senate since the Cold War...

...From the audience came the sound of crickets chirping...

...Likewise, on the "special interest" question, Kerry has eschewed PAC contributions to his Senate campaigns-but accepts lots of $2,000 contributions from individuals connected to corporations...

...It's been a long slog to get to this rather uninspiring point in Democratic political history...

...He was a fierce opponent of Reagan's wars in Central America, but has been on both sides on the war in Iraq...

...So help me, we will end any incentive or reward for any noneconomic activity to go abroad," he declared...

...On trade, Kerry said, "We need to trade...

...Contrast that with Edwards, who picked up steam by drawing a sharp distinction with his opponent on the issue of trade...

...Kerry criticizes Bush for taking money from HMOs, drug companies, and energy concerns, but he has also hit up these industries for financing, The Washington Post points out, raising nearly $27,000 from oil and gas companies...

...Former rival John Edwards refused to accept lobbyist contributions both as a Senator and a Presidential candidate...

...Ruth Conniff is Political Editor of The Progressive...

...Kerry's biggest applause line was "I will have an Attorney General who is not John Ashcroft...

...His campaign and its young, enthusiastic workers changed politics, in spite of the way things ended, Dean said...

...Kerry co-sponsored legislation to help telecommunications companies buy up the public airwaves...

...For too long voters haven't seen the difference between the two parties," Dean said, and bragged about "putting the spine back in the Democratic Party...

...I personally believe every child in America ought to learn two languages, and ought to learn them as early as possible...

...companies that dodge taxes by setting up shell headquarters in Bermuda...

...We all know kids don't learn well who aren't properly fed and so forth...

...Like Al Gore, John Kerry says he's fighting "special interests," even as he rakes in cash from Washington lobbyists...

...The AFL-CIO's candidate questionnaire asked the big question about trade: How would the candidates vote on the next NAFTA-the Free Trade Area of the Americas...

...Instead of Kerry's call for "fully funding No Child Left Behind," Edwards excoriated the President for the "damage being done" by the same program...

...Only hours before he bowed out, Dean whipped up voters at the Orpheum Theater in Madison, Wisconsin, sounding like Nader, only running from within the Democratic Party...

...We need to not just have free trade in this country," Edwards said...

...But when the amendment failed, Kerry voted for Fast Track anyway...

...On education: "What I want to do for kids is, first of all, get up to the full 40 percent funding for special needs...

...Edwards checked the box marked "oppose...

...Frankly, I think we ought to have a universal breakfast program...

...The Bush Administration calls him more liberal than Teddy Kennedy, and The New Republic points out that he shares Dukakis's vulnerability on crime and welfare issues dating back to his tenure as a liberal lieutenant governor of Massachusetts...

...He gave a rip-roaring speech that dwelled upon economic injustice, and, while echoing many of Kerry's basic policy positions, he made them sound pugnacious and daring...

...But by nominating Kerry, the Democrats leave plenty of room for Nader's genuinely anti-special-interest challenge...

...But over his lengthy Senate career he has moved into the welfare-reform-supporting, death-penalty-for-terrorists, Democratic Leadership Council mainstream...

...Another Kerry patron: the News Corp...

...Kerry's biggest contributor over his career, according to the Center for Public Integrity, is the Boston-based law firm Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky, and Popeo, which lobbies on behalf of the telecommunications industry...

...Progressives and labor unions made some convoluted calculations as they hopped aboard the Kerry train...

...Watching the candidates on the campaign trail there was no question that the enthusiasm generated by Howard Dean and even Edwards put Kerry to shame...

...That remains to be seen...

...On universal health care: "I don't want to over-promise . . . I can't just snap my fingers as President and it's going to happen...

...Of course, he's better than Bush, but why is it that the enthusiasm of last summer must so predictably cool into this spring drear...

...Ralph Nader's campaign is certainly ill-considered, given how atrocious the Bush Administration is...

...To be fair, Kerry offered an amendment on the Fast Track legislation that would have made it impossible for companies to sue the government over laws that they claim impinge on their profitability-a little-known but extremely significant issue...

...UNITE, the textile workers' union, came out in force for Edwards in Wisconsin and offered him its endorsement...

...He takes money from oil and gas companies, but opposes Arctic drilling...

...The candidate kept the crowd lukewarm with his series of policy pronouncements...

...You can clap for that...

...I would impose stronger enforcement, as well as greater diplomatic investment to guarantee that trade not only lifts our economy, but also doesn't leave Americans behind...

...How about a little fair trade...

...It's OK," Kerry urged...

...Edwards practically stage-dived into the crowd at Madison's Inn on the Park hotel, shaking hand after hand...

...Dennis Kucinich, by far the most leftwing Democrat, made the same claim to be able to influence the party...

...That's Fox News's Rupert Murdoch, who flew Kerry's staff to California to talk about the needs of multimillionaire broadcasters, according to the Post...

...But the AFLCIO backed Kerry without ever pressing him to take more pro-labor positions...

...Even the candidate himself sounded bored by this spiel...

...But with Kerry the all-but-con-firmed nominee, we better hope that the war of TV ads shows him to better advantage than up-close, retail politics...

...Instead, he offered this: "I do not feel that we have done enough to enforce labor and environmental accords that were signed with NAFTA...

...But there's a difference between fair trade and this sort of 'take you to the cleaners' trade...

...Kerry declined to check a box at all...

...The question now is whether anti-Bush voters are motivated enough and numerous enough to shrug their shoulders, go to the polls, and vote for the man who can replace this radical rightwing Administration with one that is blander but more benign...

...He lost the crowd as he worked his way through the fine print...