Fiscal conservative is the new liberal

In a strategy sure to annoy both Bush campaign and "average joe" voters who thought they had finally figured out the difference between the parties, John Kerry pledged Tuesday to cut the deficit by 50% and "get back to being fiscally responsible."

Now, Democrats have never run on a platform of fiscal irresponsibility per se, but fiscal restraint and deficit-mongering are usually boilerplate speech material for the Republicans. It's part of a very normal shift-toward-center that occurs once the primary battles have concluded. But with Bush's convention acceptance speech less than a month away, he's finding some of his key issues co-opted.

Kerry also pushed for a return to pay-as-you-go budgeting rules for Congress, a move that would require any tax cut be offset by spending cuts or other revenue increases. Currently, half of the rules are in place, requiring offsets only for spending increases. Reinstatement of full budget rules have been pushed by a handful of conservatives in the Senate over the objections of GOP leadership; the Bush-backed tax cuts and the so-called "paygo" rules don't mix well.