The first is a matter of pragmatism. The longer the primaries are drawn out, the better for the Democratic Party as a whole. Let us have a real, contested primary season--to which we have already been pleasantly treated.

Dean rose and fell with the trajectory of a roman candle. In his rise he gave spine to an ailing, weary party. In his fall, he gave that spine more measure. Clark instilled a warrior instinct and reminded us that this election will be decided largely on the grave matters of state.

Now, two men are left standing. Let this contest continue on its full course, all the way to the convention in Boston.

The two remaining contenders are both excellent choices. One, a lifetime insider (not necessarily a bad thing) with requisite foreign policy and wartime experience, is easy to listen to but even easier to tune out.

The other is youthful, vibrant and alive. He has no baggage. Sure, Kerry pumps people up when he comes out to Led Zeppelin's "When the Levee Breaks" or when he exhorts the crowd to chant those words: "Bring. It. On."

Yet John Edwards manages to keep that populist gospel opened wide, the letters H-O-P-E emblazoned on every page. He seemlessly combines the political and the personal. He connects with voters. His rhetoric doesn't alienate like repeated attacks and the over-reliance on figures often do.

Everytime we hear him speak, we sense his convictions are genuine, that he really believes what he is saying. Wherever he goes, people respond. We get the feeling that unlike so many politicians, including Kerry, he not only wants to be a man of the people, John Edwards is a man of the people.

In short, he is a natural. This is our second reason for endorsing the senior Senator from North Carolina.

The third reason is just as easy: John Edwards is the future, as Kos so briliantly elucidated earlier today.

But in the end it comes down to one very important reason: Edwards is inspiring. When he speaks, he is captivating and this has been lacking in too many candidates of late. He is, perhaps, more inspiring than Clinton. But certainly more inspiring than Kerry or Gore.

The future this nation faces is a difficult one. We have old friendships, battered and bruised by three years of lies, to repair. The economy is bleeding a sea of red ink that Moses could not part. And we have a nation rent with religious intolerance. We need someone to guide us. Someone to show us the way. Someone genuine. A natural.

That man is John Edwards.