BBC ON KERRY

"Exit polls from Tuesday's primaries show that the main reason people voted for Mr Kerry was his electability...

"But the same exit polls show that electability is not the most important quality people seek in a candidate. The main thing they look for is "a candidate who cares about people like me", the second is "a candidate who stands up for what he believes". And in these areas, John Kerry did not score so well.

"That suggests that
- he doesn't relate well to voters
- voters are not sure what he stands for.

"Who does that remind you of? Al Gore."

[Close, but not quite: D voters are trying to look beyond people like them, or rather us; the slight but important difference is that primary D voters understand that the country as a whole isn't exactly people like them, or rather us. And the big internal issue, which is completely different from 2000 and which the British have generally been underestimating because they are missing the depth of the egalitarian ethic in the US, is whether to get Bush's head on a pike, or platter. The most informative trend isn't any candidates' personal numbers, its the doubling and tripling of turnout-PWP]