[VRWCmember]

I think southerners are still smart enough to vote for the more conservative option.

The conservative base has to be energized or the south goes into play for the dems. Furthermore, if the dems are encouraged by the fact that the voters have been given a choice between clinton and clinton-lite, then the party activists will know they might be able to get the election close enough to steal thru vote fraud (like they almost did in 2000 after the errant call for Florida before the polls were closed supressed the GOP turnout in western FLA by at least 5000 to 10000 votes).

[HostileTerritory]

The conservative base has to be energized or the south goes into play for the dems.

If the conservative base isn't energized, and there's no sign that will happen anyway, big whoop, we win South Carolina and Tennessee with 53% of the vote instead of 60%. They won't be "in play." The population there is still conservative and frankly a lot of enthusiasm there is wasted once we get past the mid-point. Kerry took 60% in Massachusetts; the Democrats would have been better off which someone who didn't rouse Mass. liberals to that extent, they still would have won Mass. and probably a few other states as well.