Kerry's problem: he played too much to the center, says Arrianna Huffington: "...it was the fatal decision to make the pursuit of undecided voters the overarching strategy of the Kerry campaign."

Then again, isn't the center where it's at? We're "a center-right country ... [where] fully one-fifth of voters said they cared most about `moral values' - as many as cared about terrorism and the economy - and 8 in 10 of them chose Mr. Bush."

Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, a former Clinton aide: "What happened was that a part of the electorate came open to what Clinton and Carter had to say on everything else - health care, the environment, whatever - because they were very comfortable that Clinton and Carter did not disdain the way these people lived their lives, but respected them."

William Saletan: "Some of you are dismayed by the emergence of a huge voting bloc of churchgoers. Stop viewing this as a threat, and start viewing it as an opportunity."

Go left? Go right? Sit tight? Timothy Noah offers some perspective.