Yet none of that gets to perhaps the fundamental meaning of Kerry's selection of Edwards: confirmation of the ticket's thoroughgoing left-ism.

The Democrats will try - they've been building the case for some time - to make the November election principally about George Bush. Why? Partly (a) because many Democrats refuse to believe he is president legitimately, that he and the Republicans stole the outcome in the Florida contretemps. But more broadly (b) because of Bush's (and Dick Cheney's) abiding conservatism and moderation compared to Kerry's (and now Edwards') deep-running liberalism.

Kerry's first choice for a running mate was Sen. John McCain - a social conservative and a hawk on Iraq. By fashioning a bipartisan "unity" ticket with the Republican McCain, Kerry could have blurred the ideological distinctions between himself and Bush. To his credit, McCain would have none of it. So Kerry has picked Edwards - with a Senate lifetime Americans for Democratic Action rating of 81 (to Kerry's 92). Those two ratings compute to a combined lifetime rating of 86, hardly different from leftist paradigm Teddy Kennedy's 88.

There's little disputing it now: The presidential contest is building toward an ideological Armageddon - perhaps the final battle between extreme liberalism and moderate conservatism.

Kerry himself first made his public name on the ramparts with Jane Fonda. His campaign team boasts numerous recruits from the Kennedy camp. The Wall Street Journal noted Tuesday that speeches in prior years written by Kerry's adviser and speechwriter, Robert Shrum, "defined the left wing of the Democratic Party." Kennedy and Al Gore are top Kerry campaign surrogates. In a July 6 political ad in The New York Times, Gore said, "Thanks to his contempt for any person, institution, or nation who disagrees with him, George Bush has actually exposed Americans to a greater, rather than lesser, danger of attack by terrorists. This administration has shamed America and deeply damaged the cause of freedom and human rights everywhere."

And now the choice of John Edwards as Kerry's running-mate - an individual Kerry labeled during the primaries as insufficiently experienced to be president: "In the Senate four years, and that is the full extent of [his] public life: no international experience, no military experience. You can imagine what the advertising is going to be next year."

And not only the advertising. Imagine, indeed. Soon, now, imagination will give way to reality. When that happens, keep noticing where the negativism lies - and whether the discussion is about personalities or ideas.