What John Kerry Needs: The Estrogen Factor

Sherry is just a regular gal. Like most Americans, the married 30-something would rather watch "Survivor" on CBS than a bunch of talking heads discuss Washington politics over on CNN. And yet, she has a photo of John Edwards and his wife stuck on her refrigerator. Oh, except she's carefully grafted her own face onto Elizabeth Edwards' body.

Let's just say Sherry really, really likes John Edwards. And she's not alone.

John Edwards was the rare candidate who actually got more of his support from women than men in many of the Democratic primaries. He also got more of his money, in both dollar amounts and percentage, from contributors identified as homemakers or housewives. In fact, it's the women of North Carolina who put Edwards in the Senate -- he owed his upset victory over incumbent Republican Senator Lauch Faircloth in 1998 to a whopping 16-point gender gap.

The secret of Edwards' estrogen appeal goes far beyond his pretty face. Unlike NASCAR dads, women voters tend not to be too impressed with the kind of masculine appeal that involves swaggering across an aircraft carrier with a bulging crotch, a la George Bush. They tend to favor a more subtle kind of power -- the kind that fuses strength with compassion and charisma. It's why Meredith, a pretty photographer with little enthusiasm for politics or politicians, makes an exception for Edwards. "He is the only candidate who seemed human," she says. "I felt like he actually cared for real human beings, instead of talking about them as policy issues or talking points."

And that ability to connect is exactly why Edwards would make a perfect running mate for John Kerry. He supplies the two resources Kerry needs most: charisma and vision.

Just Say No to Macho

Watching Kerry ponderously mumble his way through the campaign trail is sufficient to send even the most optimistic liberal diving for the nearest spider hole. Here's Mr. Fire-in-the-belly on how he would handle the gruesome evidence of torture in Abu Ghraib:

"I'd want to get the facts and hold the people accountable and make the appropriate statements, take appropriate responsibility.... If that includes apologizing for the behavior of the soldiers when that happens, then we ought to do that."

That's not running to the center, that's running your self right out of town.

Let's face it, John Kerry could use a little help. And since Bush has already bagged Jesus as his co-pilot, Kerry will just have to settle for John Edwards. Sure, Edwards can't raise the dead or walk on water, but he can deliver the one constituency most likely to help Kerry win: women.

What Kerry needs is not someone who will deliver one battleground state or another. Nor does he need to further butch up his candidacy. That whole "band of brothers" thing is pretty testosterone-driven as it is. We already have a Democratic nominee who can't cross the street without the requisite grizzled, military vet in tow. The mantra is strength, strength and more strength.

Every four years, the Democratic Party desperately tries to out-macho the GOP in a vain attempt to convince working class white men to vote for its candidate. In the '80s, for example, the Dems were busy courting the so-called Reagan Democrats, the same demographic that has now been re-labeled "NASCAR dads."

Well, here's a news flash: A person who has not voted for a single Democratic nominee in 20-plus years is, in fact, a Republican. Only 22 percent of white guys identify themselves as Democrats. As a voting block, white men represent 39 percent of the electorate. As Charlie Cook, a Washington-based analyst, once observed, "NASCAR dads haven't voted Democratic in a presidential election since Moby Dick was a guppy." It's time to stop spending all the hard-earned money raised from loyal Democrats on wooing loyal Republicans.