Bill Wineke at the Wisconsin State Journal has some advice and a theory:

Here's what I would like to see John Kerry say tonight:

"I don't want to have a beer with you, either."

For some reason, the gold standard of measuring a candidate for high office these days is the beer test: Would you want to go out and have a beer with this guy?

Under that standard, we elected Bill Clinton rather than George H.W. Bush. Under that standard, we elected George W. Bush, rather than Al Gore.

I think his theory is right, but his advice is wrong. When we vote for President, we're voting for someone to represent us to the world, we're not just voting for a policy wonk. Personality matters. But not because we're stupid & shallow, but rather because who the President is, beyond his or her ideas, is the face of America to the world. And America, like it or not, is a beer drinker's country.

Naturally, we want they face to be someone like us. And please, don't play the race card with that statement. We're all smarter than that. I feel a far stronger bond with someone like Herman Cain than I do with Hillary Clinton. The problem for Kerry is that he's not like us. He holds himself in a world that the average American cannot relate to. Likewise, I wouldn't expect Kerry to be able to relate to the average American. Unfortunately for him, that skill is a prerequisite to the position of President.

I wholeheartedly believe that , indeed, John Kerry wouldn't want to have a beer with me. He doesn't need to say it tonight because his actions make it obvious. On November 2nd, I plan to make it obvious I wouldn't want to have a beer with him either.

:-)