The White Stuff?

"But it is tough for Edwards to come out and actually say that. So maybe he uses code instead.

"For example, he says: 'If you're running in a tough congressional district . . . you gotta ask yourself, would you rather have Sen. Obama at the top of the ticket to help, Sen. Clinton at the top of the ticket to help or John Edwards at the top of the ticket to help?' 'Your instincts will tell you the right answer,' Edwards says."

ABC's Jake Tapper weighs the evidence:

"The argument is that Edwards is a Southerner from a rural background and can make Red states competitive. That Edwards is culturally of a Red State. That he is able to speak the language of the Reagan Democrat, Joe Sixpack, Mike Lunchpail.

"The argument is NOT, the Edwards campaign insists, that Edwards as a white man is more electable than a white woman or a black man.

"At the Youtube/CNN debate in July, Edwards very clearly stated, 'Anybody who's considering not voting for Senator Obama because he's black or for Senator Clinton because she's a woman, I don't want their vote.' . . .

"For weeks I've rejected the notion that Edwards is making this appeal on anything other than cultural values, his Southern twang and roots. but that 'picture in your head' clause is interesting."

Is Fred Thompson bombing or not? Slate's John Dickerson sees the Tennessean in trouble:

"Fred Thompson has it all figured out. Speaking to a group of female business leaders in Florida, he said, 'I'm kind of a laid-back guy, but I've been hardworking and successful for a long, long time. I don't have to prove myself to anybody. I've done pretty well being me. And me is all they're going to get.'

"This is either refreshing or hubris. It could be a stab at turning laziness into a virtue or an irritated refusal to modify a strategy founded on the faulty notion that a candidate can win without months of grueling hustle. Or maybe Thompson just has a quality voters find attractive in presidential candidates: He knows his own mind.

"There have been scattered signs to support the more favorable thesis. Thompson wasn't afraid to talk about reducing the growth of Social Security benefits even in retiree-rich Florida. When asked about the Terry Schiavo controversy/debacle, he didn't pander to social conservatives, even though he's desperately courting them. He said government had no business meddling in whether her life support stayed on. This reminded me of his kiss-off to Dr. James Dobson, the radio host who diagnosed Thompson as 'un-Christian' even though he'd never met the man. When Thompson was asked whether he would meet with Dobson in an effort to win him over, the candidate said he'd be happy to receive an apology from the evangelical leader but that he wasn't going to ask for one . . .

"My interviews don't represent a scientific sample, of course, but a door feels like it's closing for Thompson, even after his improved second debate performance Sunday. Thompson says the criticism is only coming from the Beltway chattering class and he'll ignore it (except, presumably, for the pundits working for him). I was prepared to think regular people had a more generous view of his slow start for awhile, but the people I talked to don't live in Washington. They live where the voting is going to take place. They're buzzing about Huckabee, not Thompson, and what they are saying about Thompson doesn't sound good for him."