Senator Kerry, described by the Washington Post this week as “once an early favorite for the Democratic presidential nomination,” has replaced his campaign manager. That would do the trick were the problem the pitchman as opposed to the product. But the more we watch the race for the White House, the more we get the impression that selling Mr. Kerry to the Democratic base is like selling ice to Eskimos — if they want something cool, they know where to find it. Perhaps that’s why two more Kerry staffers quit his flagging campaign yesterday. The coolest of all the Democratic presidential candidates by far is Governor Dean, whose fierce opposition to the war in Iraq and commitment to expanding the government safety net have earned him front-runner status.

It seems unlikely that Mr. Kerry can out-Howard-Dean Howard Dean. Mr. Kerry voted for the resolution giving President Bush the authority to go to war in Iraq, though he later claimed that he had been duped by the president and then opposed the allocation of $87 billion to see the job through. Dr. Dean has opposed the liberation of Iraq from the start. On health care, Dr. Dean has proposed a plan to make the government responsible for the health care of every American up to the age of 25 whose family income is under three times the poverty level. Mr. Kerry has proposed something similar, but only encompassing those under age 18. On taxes, Mr. Kerry has proposed rolling back Mr. Bush’s tax cuts, but only for the richest Americans. Dr. Dean has proposed repealing all of the Bush tax cuts.

Mr. Kerry is at least a few ticks closer to the center than Dr. Dean, which ought to make him more palatable to a broader cross-section of Americans. Instead, the party seems to be veering to the left. The historians no doubt will pick over this campaign for years. But in the end we suspect they will conclude that the problem has been a lack of leadership from the candidates running in the Democratic Party’s primary. None has managed to capture and energize the center, as opposed to the extreme left. The result may well be the nomination of an unelectable candidate. The news is good for Mr. Bush, but bad for Americans who may well be left with a polarizing choice in 2004.