I've been out of my office for the past few days, so today and tomorrow I'll be playing catch-up, with not much time to 'blog.

I do want to weigh in on the Edwards thing. In experience, Edwards would never be my choice in a million years. In bullet-proof-ability, Edwards has some open gashes in his Kevlar, most in the shape of a ambulance being chased in the distance. In beat-Bush-ability, he's probably the very best choice Kerry could make.

I like Edwards' rhetoric. Rhetoric doesn't run the country, but rhetoric could put John Kerry in the White House, and that's what's important. And if Kerry puts together a good team to help him run the White House, who cares if Edwards is a heartbeat away from the Oval Office -- the President's job is to listen to a battery of advisors and make a decision from there. John Edwards proved on the primary stump that he has compassion, vision, and an understanding of and patience for the political process. I don't see why he couldn't be president.

I'll never get my Dick Cheney/Wesley Clark debate. But I'm looking forward to the Cheney/Edwards tete-a-tete.

Howard Dean for Secretary of Health and Human Services. Think about it.