My thesis is that the extremists on the Democratic side were in the driver's seat last election, and that it was obvious in the presentation.

That there are extremists on the Republican side goes without saying, but they were kept firmly in the background. There was a lot of grumbling from the evangelical community that they weren't more on display during the Republican convention. Didn't see Jerry Falwell sitting in the President's box, did we?

I will concede that this may be less about political principles than about skilled presentation and campaign organization.

If Kerry was being encouraged to distance himself from the extremists a lot more than Bush was, there was probably a damn good reason for it.