Something seems to be amiss with the "blogger" software this morning -- my first post of the day must be floating somewhere in the outer reaches of the web, and without it, the one from 10:12 doesn't make much sense.

Here's what was lost, in sum:

One good gauge of the performance of the Kerry/Edwards ticket is the emergence of Bill Clinton. Throughout the election season, the Clintons have had to walk a narrow road. On the one hand, they don't want Kerry to win, as it would destroy Hillary's chances in 2008. One the other hand, they don't want to alienate the Democratic fold by having "taken a powder" in the fight against the hated George W. Bush.

Bill Clinton's heart surgery offered the perfect excuse for having the ex-President sit out the race until it was clear which way the wind was blowing. But today, The Washington Post notes that Clinton is returning to the campaign trail to "help" John Kerry. To me, this suggests that the Clintons figure that the race is trending against Kerry and it's "safe" for the ex-President to come out.

After all, nothing I've seen suggests that Clinton has much appeal among the swing voters that Kerry is trying to court. Clinton's only possible appeal is to black voters, who seem less than enthused about John Kerry.

Note also that there have been stories about President Bush winning a larger share of the Jewish vote.

So Clinton could also be trying to make sure that the Boston Brahmin doesn't shred the Democratic coalition for 2008.