Gephardt the hawk has reached a "compromise" resolution giving Bush generally a free hand to wage unecessary war against Iraq. I'm curious as to how this will help Gephardt's presidential chances come 2004.

A truism of all primaries is that only the base votes. That's why Republicans must generally run as a hard-right conservative during their primaries, and then dive to the center for the general election. The opposite is true for Democrats (run as liberals in the primaries, and then try and claim the center in the general).

But all recent polls have shown that Democratic voters are consistently against the war. So what's his calculation? That a pro-war resolution will help him in the general election? He's got a long way to go before he's the party's nominee.

And, more so than any other of the Dems presidential aspirants, Gephardt appeals to the party's left wing. Conservative Democrats will back Lieberman or Edwards. Even Kerry and Dean have a bigger claim to the middle than Gephardt. Yet instead of courting the peace wing of the Democratic Party, he has stabbed them in the back. Very curious.