corrente

As Xan points out, it's a thumb in the eye for Republican operatives who claim we write off the south. The Nation has other reasons:

• Consistency With Kerry: For better or worse, Kerry and Edwards are cut from the same ideological cloth, as their Senate records illustrate.


• Small-town Appeal: Democratic fortunes collapsed in rural and small-town America in 2000, tipping the balance to Bush in a number of key states.


• Southern Possibilities: Polls suggest that, while it's an uphill struggle, Kerry could win as many as four southern states: Florida, Louisiana, Arkansas and North Carolina.


• Some Liberal/Left Appeal


• A Real Challenger for Dick Cheney

Above all, however, Edwards brings to the Kerry campaign something that has been missing to this point: a recognizable and appealing domestic-policy message. Kerry secured the nomination by playing on his record as a veteran and his foreign policy and national security experience. Democratic caucus and primary voters bet, perhaps wisely, that those strengths would be needed in a race with Bush. But Kerry never developed a functional, let alone inspiring message for the home front. With his talk about the need to close the economic gap between what he referred to as the "two Americas," and with his emphasis on developing programs to aid the working poor, Edwards renewed old Democratic Party themes that will play very well--especially with wavering Democrats and independents--in a year when pessimism about the economy could yet decide the direction of the presidential race.
(via Nation)

I agree with the The Two Americas thesis. And I think it rings true with a lot of people's experience. Wouldn't it be great of health care emerged as the ultimate wedge issue?

"That boy's talkin' sense, Merle!"