] It's the economy, John Kerry.
]
] That's what delegates to the Democratic National
] Convention say their presumed presidential nominee or --
] they shudder to think -- President Bush should
] concentrate on first in 2005, an Associated Press survey
] of Democratic delegates found.
]
] Health care was the No. 2 issue, followed by the war in
] Iraq, according to the survey of some three-quarters of
] the 4,300-plus delegates.

I think this is a very serious mistake. This election is a referendum on Bush, and how his administration has handled security and foreign policy in the wake of 9/11. As long as Kerry can maintain the perception that Bush has loused things up and that he can fix it he can will the election. This is not very difficult to do in the wake of the failure to discover WMD and the difficult security situation in Iraq.

Putting out a numbered list of priorities, and putting national security in the middle of list, communicates only one thing, and that is that national security is not our top priority. This creates a fundamental weakness that will be easy for the Republicans to exploit. They can send the message that they care more about national security then the Democrats do, and if people believe that message the Republicans will win the election. A terrorist attack in this season would play right into that fissure.

Healthcare is a very serious problem in this country, but no one understands it better then the people who operate businesses. In other words, as most voters don't operate businesses they are unlikely to understand how serious the problem is. They understand 9/11. And frankly, they understand that healthcare won't help much if they are victim of an attack no matter how affordable it is.

AP Survey: Top priority of Democratic delegates? It's the economy