The darling of a vanishing constituency

Jim Geraghty for National Review Online brings our attention back to the fascinating matter of Democratic presidential politics, and specifically the progress, or lack thereof, of Joe Lieberman’s campaign. Geraghty notes that Lieberman “is having only a marginally better spring than the Detroit Tigers,” baseball’s worst team by far. This is true with respect both to fundraising and polling in key primary states. Lieberman, of course, cannot be nominated. But as the only true social conservative and consistent supporter of a muscular foreign policy among the announced candidates, and with enormous name-recognition, he might have expected much better poll numbers and fundraising than he’s apparently getting.
Geraghty seems somewhat at a loss at explaining Lieberman’s sorry showing. To me the answer seems clear. Social conservatives who support a muscular foreign policy are becoming a fringe element in the Democratic Party. Lieberman’s plight confirms how far left the Democratic base has moved. It is pretty clear to me that the Democrats won’t nominate anyone to the right of John Kerry. That’s good news for President Bush, but bad news for the country if Bush is not re-elected.