If the Democratic Party fails to woo an Evan Byah or some other formidable moderate to lead a ticket then we can take the crumbling issue of the Rainbow coalition and wait another 8 years for a president. I say "crumbling" as the Gay support surely has surfaced in the Foley scandal as being entrenched in the Republican party. That only shows that even the basic support structure the Democrats have been relying on is gone. If we run Hilary or Obama we are doing a three-peat of Gore-Kerry. Not that she isn't the most qualified but lets win back the Executive and then bring the country on board with qualified thinkers. This country has sent a clear messsage to the Democrats - "We are not interested in an other MA-NY Liberal! We won't elect them." The silent majority who controls the electoral college won't make it happen.Is anyone in the party leadership listening? I don't think so as witnessed by Lieberman's loss from being too moderate. Here we go again and there the excutive office goes again for many years to come. We have virtully put ourselves in a one party democracy with merely an ineffective quiet out of touch descent.What a pitty.

Most national pundits have said the BIG winner of Warner's dropping out is Sen Bayh.

Bayh was competing with Warner for the same group of people... and now with Warner out, Bayh is the big dog with that group. Bayh and his staff are undoubtably burning up the phone lines calling Warner's major backers to line them up.

PoliticalDerby.com said it best... "Who benefits the most? That’s a no-brainer, and I have one word for you, Evan Bayh. ProFlowers.com. Time to send Warner some chocolates, a few nice Mylar balloons and one of those giant thank you cards. The center of track has just become a heckuvalot less crowded."

I disagree with the premise that the democratic center/right is the only electable presidential candidate in a general election.

I think we see clear victories for progressive democrats that clearly articulate their positions, stand firm when criticized, and fight for the greater good.

I predict that if the democratic nominee campaign on true democratic issues, they will win -- providing universal health care to all americans, shoring up the economy by rolling back the irresponsible bush tax cuts, and guaranteeing a decent minimum wage for anyone willing to work for it. And you can add guaranteeing human rights to the list.

Evan Bayh (and Mark Warner for that matter) would continue the slide of the political spectrum to the right. If this slide continues, the left will soon be left fighting just to win arguements that are now considered "center" positions.

Even a loss, if we stick to core values through dark times, will serve us better in the long run.