Like many southerners who move away, Wesley Clark of Arkansas and John Edwards of North Carolina now wear their Southernness gaudily, as though they must prove its authenticity. For them, the South seems not so much a home as a talisman to ward off Northeasterners and liberals, Dukakises and--they hope--Kerrys.
Of the 12 states holding Democratic contests in early February, only four are in the South. But Edwards and Clark know their Southernness makes a larger argument before even a single drawled word is spoken: We are red-state guys; we can bring the fight to Republican territory. As Edwards puts it,...
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