Senator Kerry firmed up his status as the likely Democratic presidential nominee.(John F. Kerry)(Brief Article)

* Senator Kerry firmed up his status as the likely Democratic presidential nominee. He is said, probably correctly, to be more electable than Howard Dean. But this is to pick out one of the brighter stars in a dim constellation. Kerry opposes the death penalty in almost all circumstances, is unwilling to do anything to prevent gay marriage, and once sponsored a bill to ensure that welfare benefits would continue to flow to people whose "disability" was a fondness for crack cocaine. He is, in short, a Massachusetts liberal. And while some pundits are saying that labeling politicians that way is tired, we suspect that the electorate will find that running candidates who deserve the title is even more so. Kerry's unquestionable heroism in the Vietnam War is unlikely to immunize him from scrutiny of his questionable foreign-policy judgment (and should not shield him from scrutiny of his record of describing his fellow veterans as war criminals). The ...