I WATCHED JOHN KERRY’S APPEARANCE ON KUDLOW LAST NIGHT, and I have to say that I think it was the strongest performance I’ve ever seen Kerry turn in — if he’d been like that the whole time in 2004 he would have won.

My first thought was that he’d given up on running in 2008, and that he’d benefited from the let-up of pressure. That seems not to be the case, though.