An interesting note from The Corner:

The National Journal’s ranking of members of Congress by ideology has already played a bit of a role in this year’s election, as Republicans have pointed to the fact that Barack Obama was ranked the most liberal senator in 2007. It’s worth noting that Joe Biden was ranked third most liberal.

That’s probably why Obama didn’t see a bounce in the polls after his selection of Biden.  As Fred Barnes describes in today’s Wall Street Journal, the winds may be blowing for Democrats this year but America is still a center-right nation.

The real reason why an Obama-Biden ticket is a vulnerable one is that it plays into one of the few strengths that Republicans and John McCain have in the 2008 election. A weak economy, a surge in Democratic voter registration, an unpopular Republican president, a sour public mood, a desire for political change—all those favor Mr. Obama and Democrats.

But what Mr. Obama has done is create an all-liberal ticket—a very, very liberal one, at that—in a nation whose electorate is still center-right. The political mood may be a bit more centrist today than it was in 2004, but it’s still far more conservative than liberal. And liberal Democratic presidential tickets usually lose, as John Kerry did with John Edwards as his running mate in 2004.

I have little doubt that Americans are fed up with Republicans, but I think that has more to do with Republican stupidity, misdeeds and abandonment of principle than any move by the American electorate to the left.  And the Democrats have badly misjudged this.

Americans may be ready for a Democrat president, if for no other reason than to teach Republicans a lesson, but whether or not they’re ready for a re-run of Carter/Mondale is another thing entirely.