WASHINGTON, July 20 (UPI) -- The only noise that could match the recent thunder of well-deserved applause for John Kerry's choice of running mate, John Edwards, was the loud, collective gulp in Republicans' throats. The Bush-Cheney campaign must now confront its worst nightmare: a strong New Democrat ticket.
Six months ago, Republicans thought this election would be a cakewalk. The Democratic frontrunner, Howard Dean, was running away from Clintonism with a campaign that threatened to revive the GOP's favorite stereotypes of Democrats as quick to raise middle-class taxes, out of touch with middle-class values, and reluctant to defend the United States' security in the world. With decades of experience in attacking liberalism, Bush strategists didn't even bother to come up with a positive agenda.
The Bush campaign had hoped to re-run the 1988 campaign. As Kerry, Edwards and their adorable families campaigned from Ohio to Florida on the familiar values of opportunity, responsibility, faith and family, Republicans realized they're reliving the 1992 campaign instead.
Like the Clinton-Gore ticket in 1992, the Kerry-Edwards ticket sends the same strong, unmistakable signal about 2004: The New Democrat message can compete anywhere, from the South to the West, from suburbs to small towns. The true champions of the middle class are determined to be a centrist, majority party.
Much to the chagrin of Republican opposition researchers, Kerry and Edwards are New Democrat stalwarts. Both are "Blair Democrats" who supported the use of force in Iraq and advocate a tough-minded internationalism in foreign relations. Both have strong centrist records of support for fiscal discipline, middle-class tax cuts and work-based welfare reform.
Like Clinton, both have been able to attract support across ideological lines, from Democrats, independents and moderate Republicans. And when Dean tried to lure the party off the Clinton path by eschewing swing voters and appealing only to the energetic faithful, Kerry and Edwards understood that Democrats and undecided voters alike could be energized with answers, not anger.
Indeed, New Democrats couldn't ask for a stronger team than Kerry and Edwards. As a tough-minded war hero with a lifetime of experience in national security, Kerry has an opportunity to do for Democrats on national security what Bill Clinton did for his party on domestic policy, by jettisoning old ideological baggage, embracing innovation and reform, and occupying the vital center of U.S. politics. As the son of a millworker who grew up in a small town and was the first in his family to go to college, John Edwards has a chance to show the United States that Democrats are the true home of small-town values and opportunity for all, special privilege for none.
Over the course of this campaign, both men have set forth bold, centrist agendas with DLC/PPI ideas front and center. Kerry has outlined an aggressive strategy to win the war on terror by strengthening the U.S. military and building strong alliances with the friends we need around the world. His economic plan is built on concrete ideas to curb federal spending, promote growth, and expand opportunity. He broke sharply from others in the party who wanted to roll back middle-class tax cuts, and has campaigned on a New Democrat contract with the middle class to lower healthcare costs, expand college opportunity for those willing to serve, and finish the job of education reform by paying teachers better and asking more in return.
Edwards also has championed a variety of DLC/PPI ideas, such as creating a new domestic intelligence agency, ending corporate welfare, matching better teacher pay with accountability for educational results, requiring community service for high school graduation, helping new parents balance work and family, requiring responsibility from fathers who owe child support, and overhauling the nation's broken parole system. He has also pushed for an across-the-board cut in the federal civilian workforce, and has proposed a variety of targeted tax cuts to help middle-class families save, invest, and buy a first home. His brand of positive populism makes a powerful values argument against Bush's "war on work," and echoes Clinton's case in 1992 that the middle class is working harder but falling behind.
The GOP effort to distort and demonize the Kerry-Edwards agenda and message is a clear sign that the incumbent party is in deep trouble -- and Republicans are right to panic. Don't just take our word for it. Listen to the whoops and hollers of joy from Democrats in the South, swing states, and rural areas. That's the best possible litmus test of what the Kerry-Edwards ticket represents: a clear centrist critique of the Bush administration's failures, and a clear, positive alternative course for the nation.
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(Al From is founder and president of the Democratic Leadership Council, a centrist organization working to change the party from within.)
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(United Press International's "Outside View" commentaries are written by outside contributors who specialize in a variety of issues. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of United Press International. In the interests of creating an open forum, original submissions are invited.)
