There’s a better Hail Mary pass available to Kerry, tho I doubt he’ll go for it: turn hard right on the war and attack Bush for not ratcheting up the effort to crush the insurgents.

This is probably what we should be doing in any case, but it also has, for Kerry, great political advantages with little downside.

For starters, as Dick Morris points out there’s no way Kerry can appeal to both the Deanies (maybe 50% of Dems) and the hawks (maybe 25%) in his party. However, the risk is much greater that a significant number of hawks will vote for Bush than that an equal or greater number of Deanies will vote for Nader or stay home. The hawks are by and large single issue voters now; the Deaniacs are not.

So best to win over the hawks with an escalation platform– take Fallujah, bring the war to a conclusion, get the elections going ASAP–which could be coupled with a plan for “Iraqization” of the war, to appeal to the Deanies).

Hail Mary, sure, but a lot more effective and morally defensible than flinging despicable slanders at Australia or floating vile rumors about a draft when it’s your own party that’s pushing for one.

If you’re headed for a fall, at least preserve your honor while you go down.