DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES for the White House, Senate, and House face a huge difficulty in 2004: They are on the wrong side of the national security gap. The public doesn’t trust their party’s collective judgment on the key issues of war and terrorism. The 2002 elections underscored the vulnerability of the Democrats on these issues, and the prospect of a presidential campaign dominated by national security concerns unnerves even veteran operatives. Which explains a series of partisan attacks on the president, including the “Bush knew” campaign, the “16 words campaign,” criticism over reconstruction in Iraq, and now the Wilson affair. In each instance prominent Democrats have attempted to undermine the Bush administration on issues relating to national security.

The first two attempts to close the national security gap failed to impress the public. The postwar difficulties in Iraq have brought down the president’s approval ratings, and the jury is out on whether Robert Novak’s column will have any lasting impact.