Familiarity's Breeding

Don Surber, while asking whether Democrats are "peaking too soon" in the 2008 presidential race, points out that Democrats have often done the same thing in past elections:

Democrats are great at electing presidents in March when the election is held in November. Dukakis, Gore and Kerry were all locks in their races — until the fall campaign actually began.

That's an interesting observation, though I would ascribe the reason for it to something other than "peaking too soon." For a generation now, the American electorate has tended to like Democratic candidates until they actually start paying attention. Once they start actually looking more closely at the race, the general public finds the candidates that Democrats put forward to be less palatable.

Hat Tip: Instapundit