Test Marketing

Political test-marketing now is being introduced via the brain trust of Sens. Chuck Schumer of New York and Nevada's Harry Reid, the minority leader. They've hatched a plan to put to the test a "socially conservative, Red State-friendly" candidate in a "Mini Me" version of the country. This IQ-raising flash of collective marketing genius may see its payday as the Democrats select their 2008 presidential nominee.

The principles of candidate testing began percolating within hours of the failed candidacy of John Kerry. The buzz originated the moment the exit polls were found to be useless. At that defining moment, Democrats knew they needed to broaden their scope or face extinction.

The Red State vs. Blue State map showcased the gaping disconnect that the Dems were racking up with moderate and conservative voters while their Republican foes were capturing that plum majority of the fastest-growing counties in the country.

The Dems needed a solution. The luster had worn off their once-shiny veneer, and they now marinated in the uncomfortable position of no longer being a saleable commodity. The American consumer was failing to buy their old product.

Remember the soda-queen diva, TaB? The next-to-extinct pop culture icon that once was the dominant face of the diet-soda revolution? The TaB analogy is strikingly parallel to the quandary that Democrats now face: They have failed to field a candidate who is willing to talk about the issues in a way that is appealing to a broader spectrum of voters. As went TaB, so too could go Democrats.

Corporations cannot ignore consumer trends. That is, unless they want to go bankrupt. Democrats are flirting with political bankruptcy. Introducing an untested candidate in 2008 would be the political equivalent of the "New Coke" blunder.

Thus, Democrats must take a risk with a "righter"-leaning candidate for 2008. But they must test-market the concept. And they have to do so in a "righter"-leaning slice of the population.

* Hillary Clinton, the heiress apparent to the head of the class, moved philosophically toward the middle with some surprising rhetoric on abortion

* The bigwigs over at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee courted a guns-and-babies candidate to run against the sometimes-ultraconservative, always-polarizing Rick Santorum.

The latter move is brilliant. Pennsylvania's 67 counties and their murky purple voting trends almost perfectly reflect that of the now-famous 2004 Red State/Blue State national election results map -- its rural counties are firmly implanted in red and the heavily populated industrial counties are embedded in blue.

Schumer and Reid have found a harmless, foulless way to test a moderate-to-conservative Democrat who loses nothing in this race other than 18 grueling months to run against the party's archnemesis.

Robert Casey Jr. is the freshly minted state treasurer and popular son of an even more popular governor. His career goal always has been to capture the governorship. To make this run alluring to the hesitant Scrantonite, young Casey has stumbled on some newfound friends.

One-time adversary Gov. Ed Rendell has made this run a political cakewalk by clearing all obstacles out of Casey's way for the 2006 primary. If Casey loses, he still retains his state row seat, will probably recapture it handily in 2008 and will be sitting pretty for a gubernatorial run in 2010.

But if Casey brings home the gold next year, he wins big for all involved in this savvy market test. The obvious Cracker Jack prize is that the Senate takes one away from the GOP, a mammoth one at that by ousting Santorum and effectively clotheslining his presidential or vice presidential aspirations.

But the biggest coup of all is that if Casey prevails in this battle of the socially conservative titans, the Dems will have successfully battle-tested a candidate outside their normal box with a slice of a demographic that reflects national trends.

All the multimedia that exist -- and perhaps some not yet invented -- will be watching this Pennsylvania Petri dish to see what grows. The voting consumer is going to be measured inside and out for this experiment in re-branding Democrats. And those associated with the effort -- consultants, technologists and pollsters -- stand to make a tidy sum in the process.

Whatever the outcome, Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid can thank their button-down Wall Street cousins for inspiration. Borrowing from their proven consumer strategies and morphing them into the Beltway culture may just be the next big thing in American politics.