Kerry Heads South

Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina and Arkansan Wesley Clark are fighting it out - for second that is. Both men trail Kerry by double digits in recent polls.

The latest MSNBC/Reuters/Zogby tracking poll in Virginia has Kerry in the lead with 47 percent. Edwards is second with 24 percent. Clark trails with 11 percent. The same poll tells much the same story in Tennessee, where Kerry leads with 45 percent. Edwards has 21 percent and Clark 19 percent.

Clark is more competitive in Tennessee because he has focused his campaign on the state. The retired general knows Tennessee is one fight he must win.

"Edwards and Clark are going after each other in Tennessee. They are going after each other hard, which is just really stupid," Larry Sabato said, a professor of political science at the University of Virginia. "They are going to wipe each other out."

Fresh off the Sunday endorsement by Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner, a Democrat, Kerry remains as formidable as ever.