It's easy to decode Morris if you remember this simple rule: Democrats who are elected are Moderates. Democrats who fail are Leftists. It's a performanced-based definition.
Thus while Morris would say that Jimmy Carter won because he was a Moderate, in reality Morris labels Jimmy Carter as a Moderate simply because he won. Similarly, Morris considers the far more centrist Dukakis a Lefty only because Dukakis lost.
Morris' other rule, which makes about as much sense, is that a woman's most attractive feature is her feet...
No. Morris is writing for the masses. The uneducated people who saw Clinton as a "regular guy". The ones who got him re-elected. They would hate to hear that they actually elected a disguised liberal. When a president is a "regular guy" like Carter, who was considered the farmer-president, he could have been left of Trotsky and it wouldn't have mattered to the regular people. They like seeing things like Bush working with the logs on his ranch. It makes him more human. Dean probably hasn't done a day's hard labor that they could show because he had to keep his hands pristine for his abortions he won't let the world know about.
What I'm waiting for, is during the debate, Bush to ask the simple question that will kill the Dean campaign in one stroke: "Mr. Dean, we all know you were a doctor prior to your campaign. Did you ever perform an abortion?" Whether he pauses, doesn't answer, beats around the Bush, or answers yes, he's finished. If he answers no, then Bush will pull out someone who he DID perform one on and then he's done.