I agree that a big part of this "Kerry Whirlwind" is that people have looked closely at the choices and they have decided they just want Bush gone and Kerry has the best resume. He's the candidate with the least risk and these people voting right now are the "Anybody But Bush" folks.

It also comes down to some extent to how the media portrays them and what they do on tv. The "Dean Scream" was no big deal but the poor guy got slammed for it and it made voters nervous about him. There were other factors as well for him but that sank him.

Clark always came off as either confused or ready to do bodily harm to someone...that wasn't gonna fly. He may be done running for president but he's not going anywhere. Count on seeing Clark hanging around for future duty.

Edwards is fine but just lacks in the experience department. I still like him to be the VP but I don't know if Kerry will choose him.

As far as Kerry goes...well...he's certainly not the old Kerry. They seem to have reinvented him. He keeps his answers short and simple. They seem to be making him smile so much I think he's going to pull a muscle in his face and they are keeping things pretty vanilla. He more than likely doesn't need as much drilling as Bush but they really have turned him into a "stay on message-never stray" candidate. Which seems to be what it takes to win these days...and since he's winning right now I don't think we'll see anything new from Kerry until he knows he's got the nomination sealed up.  It can be weird for me to watch him at times now because if you've watched Kerry over the years he always rambled on and on and gave long involved answers. Not any more. I never thought I'd see this but they found a way to get him to keep it short. It sucks a little because I'd rather hear him ramble and quote Camus but I guess this is what you gotta do to win. Oh well, you gotta take what you can get sometimes.