The Mushy Middle

Is there a middle ground in America? The other day I was listening to Rush while driving around at lunch and he made comments to the effect that there isn't. The "moderates" are simply people too weak to make up their minds. They will move with the crowd. So for President Bush to try to reach out to the middle ground is foolish; he should focus on his base.

Cal Thomas has a different take in his article today. He states "Bush is basically a conservative who seeks to portray himself as a non-fire-breathing moderate, except when it comes to the war on terrorism. This is where the country is, and it is where the Democratic presidential candidates and much of their leadership are not."

This may seem a trivial question to you--but it is key. If there is no middle ground, as Rush would have you believe, than the election is all about energizing the base. The more energized your base is, the more likely you are going to win an election. And the best things President Bush could do to energize his base are to commit to putting a hardline Conservative on the bench.

On the other hand, if their is a middle, than whoever gets their first might win--or they might not. The real question is how important is the middle. How decisive.