The following editorial appeared in the Dallas Morning News on Wednesday, Jan. 28:

At this point in the 2004 presidential campaign, we know two things. Democrats led out of New Hampshire by front-runner John Kerry and a resurgent Howard Dean face a new electoral landscape as they head south and west into the next round of primaries. And they’re carrying a sharp message from voters for President Bush.

Sure, we know Democratic voters are going to gang up against any Republican president. But there’s something different about the rumblings coming from places like Des Moines and Concord. Judging from the comments of many voters, Democrats are obsessed with finding a candidate who can beat George W. Bush.

It wasn’t supposed to turn out this way. Bush campaigned in 2000 on bringing Democrats and Republicans together. He prided himself on it, telling every voter he could find that’s why he was running for president. The fact that so many want to see him gone after three years should alarm the White House. There’s a message in these early results for the president as much as for the Democratic nominee. We remain a 50-50 nation. If he can’t bring us together, Democrats think they can.

Texas Monthly’s Paul Burka writes in his magazine’s current issue that Bush needs to return to the conciliatory style he used as governor. We agree. And to some extent, the president tried to do that with broad appeals in his State of the Union message. Among other things, he talked about improving the culture in which families raise their children.

But there’s more work to be done, if the discontent coming out of Iowa and New Hampshire is any indication. The Democratic primaries are shaping up to be about the president as much as the Democratic Party. That’s the message so far in the 2004 election.