Dominant Kerry Casts His Eye on the South

John Kerry turns his momentum in the Democratic leadership contest to the south today, hoping to tie down victories in Tennessee and Virginia and seal his domination of the primary season.

Within Democratic party ranks, Mr Kerry's anointment as presidential nominee is seen as a near-formality, following his coast-to-coast victories during the weekend in Washington state, Michigan and Maine, where partial returns gave him 45% of the vote.

Mr Kerry's sweep through the west, mid-west and north-east - he has won 10 of the 12 states contested so far - and historic turnouts have convinced Democrats that he has tapped into a well of anger at President George Bush.

Many Democrats are convinced that Mr Kerry is best poised to defeat Mr Bush in November, a perception encouraged by opinion polls which put him within striking distance of the White House. He looks on course to repeat the performance in Tennessee and Virginia, where opinion polls give him the edge in both states.

By Sunday night, even Al Gore, the former vice-president, appeared to be climbing aboard the Kerry train, making virtually no mention of his earlier support for Howard Dean.

Larry Sabato, director of the centre for politics at the University of Virginia said: "It's amazing this year. Electability has become the alpha and omega of our politics.

"Democrats are voting for the frontrunner because he is winning. Winning begets winning. Forget about the social myths that Americans root for the underdog."

A double win would destroy claims by John Edwards and General Wesley Clark of enjoying a regional advantage as native sons of the south.

In Tennessee, Mr Edwards had pinned his chances on the notion that voters would naturally rally around a fellow southerner.

Television ads featured Mr Edwards in front of his small, wooden-sided home in North Carolina, a reminder of his modest beginnings.

The appeal has resonated to some extent in Tennessee, but less so in Virginia where Mr Kerry's service in the navy during the Vietnam war plays well in conservative military towns.

Mr Edwards' claims that the south was his "backyard" and that he would be more competitive against the Republicans than the New Englander, Mr Kerry, would have proved more effective had he been fighting a two-person race.

But with Gen Clark from Arkansas also in the picture, and focusing his attacks on Mr Edwards, the anti-Kerry vote was effectively split. The divide should help Mr Kerry glide through to Wisconsin, which holds its primary next Tuesday. Aides to Mr Edwards are no longer holding out for victory in Tennessee or Virginia, but say they would like to remain "competitive", with hopes of engaging Mr Kerry directly further down the road.

"We are quickly approaching a place where it will be a two-person race. Once that happens, voters will focus on two candidates," Mr Edwards told reporters on Sunday night.

But there were signs yesterday that the Democratic party is uncomfortable with the idea of a fight for the leadership. Party insiders said it was unlikely that Mr Edwards would risk alienating the party establishment with a divisive challenge to Mr Kerry.

Gen Clark's advisers, alumnae of the Clinton administration, are also likely to favour party unity.

Early signs that the party would rally around Mr Kerry were on display on Sunday night. Mr Gore, who famously endorsed the angry man Howard Dean for the leadership, seemed anxious to redirect attention from his support for the insurgent candidate.

However, he did not formally withdraw his support for Mr Dean, as one union did over the weekend.

Instead, he said that he had been attracted by Mr Dean's anger at Mr Bush. Now, at a time when other Democrats are beginning to embrace that anger, with Mr Kerry sharpening his attacks on Mr Bush's conduct of the war in Iraq and his service in Vietnam, Mr Gore seemed to imply that Mr Dean had become irrelevant.

In a fiery speech, he likened Mr Bush to the disgraced Richard Nixon, and accused him of betraying the American people's trust after the terrorist attacks of September 2001.

Mr Gore said: "He played on our fears. He took America on an ill-conceived foreign adventure dangerous to our troops, an adventure preordained and planned before 9/11 ever took place."