Chris,

You are one sidedly balming the Republicans for the division. From Where I sit I see two parties responsible for the deep divide. I see utterly ridiculous accusations touted by many Democrats as facts and them pushing a liberal agenda hard that many Americans don't want. I see Republicans pushing economic, environmental, and conservative social goals that most American's don't want. The fact of the matter is that both parties are playing to their extremists and not to the majority. The country will remain deeply divided as long as both parties play this game. Clinton didn't when the political winds were blowing against him, but his weak foreign policy with regard to Iraq and Al-queida led to no inspectors in Iraq and increasing Attacks from Osama. The Democrats lost credibility on this issue as a result and Kerry made it worse. Only the Democrats could loose on the issue of a war going badly even if narrowly, and they got whipped on fighting terrorism. It seems to me based on the exit poll results that most Americans agree with Bush's strong stance but aren't as sure either that it was applied appropriately or that his strategic choices were correct in Iraq.

The primary system and electoral college need to be revised to help stop these divides. The primaries need to return to the stretched out format of old so that mere momentum isn't the primary means of acheiving the nomination. The rush to judgement favors fired up extremists. Abolishing the elctoral college would force a fight for the middle across the country rather than in just a few key states.

Regards,
Mark