With a brace of weekend wins behind him, Senator John Kerry gets another crack today at seeing how southerners feel about him.
Virginia and Tennessee are hosting primaries and many will be keenly sifting through the results as they will say much about Yankee Kerry's prospects as a Democratic presidential nominee in November.
Senator John Edwards and General Wesley Clark will also be gauging how they might fare in a full-blooded election.
Edwards in particular will want to do well in two states that border his political base, North Carolina.
Of the three, Edwards is alone in not yet making a pitch to Irish American voters, something he would want to consider before Super Tuesday on March 2 when 10 states vote in primaries.
New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts will be among them and all are home to significant numbers of Democrats who want to hear what the candidates might do for the peace process.
Though Edwards might be lagging on Ireland a bit, this has already turned into a vintage election year for Irish Americans.
It has been the case over the last two decades that whenever there are multiple candidates seeking the Democratic nomination, it has been possible to kick up dust by pitting one campaign against the other on the matter of Ireland.
1988 and 1992 were cases in point. But already, 2004 is running alongside those years in the number of Democratic candidates who have voiced opinions on Ireland and how they might use these ideas to unsettle their Republican rivals.
Four of the Democrats have issued statements.
One of them, Senator Joseph Lieberman, has pulled out of the race so his words are left to posterity.
Those of the other three, most especially Kerry and Clark, still have political life in them.
Kerry's initial statement was issued to little or no attention last November.
The second, improved version, emerged last week.
It promised much but, more pointedly, it had a go at President Bush over his lack of Clinton-like personal involvement in the peace process.
Kerry, in statement mark two, lauded the Clinton administration's "historic role" in the Northern Ireland peace process.
"John Kerry will put the Northern Ireland peace process high on America's foreign policy agenda," the statement said.
"On this issue, he will continue to follow the path set by Senator Kennedy, President Clinton, and Senator Mitchell."
As was the case with the November statement, Kerry alluded to his early support for a first US visa for Gerry Adams in 1994.
"He supports full implementation of the historic Good Friday Agreement, and commends the parties in Northern Ireland, and the Irish and British governments, for bringing about, with the judicial guidance of Senator Mitchell, this best opportunity for lasting peace and justice in Northern Ireland."
And then he had his go at Bush: "John Kerry believes that President Bush has failed to recognise the importance of building on the work of President Clinton in facilitating the peace process. There was not a US ambassador in Ireland in more than a year.
"President Bush's lack of urgency in naming a new ambassador to Ireland and the absence of presidential involvement in efforts to further the peace process are clear evidence that Ireland is not a high priority for the Bush administration."
The statement said Kerry believed that there was much yet to be done in building on the positive developments in the north in recent years.
Kerry believed "that repeatedly suspending democratic institutions" was not the way forward.
The statement said he would urge all parties to work for the earliest resumption of the assembly.
"And he believes that the review of the Belfast agreement must be just that – a review, not a renegotiation. The problem is not the structures of the agreement itself, but rather the failure of all to fully implement it."
Kerry's statement also took a swipe at Ian Paisley.
The DUP, it said, "cannot be permitted to disenfranchise half the population of Northern Ireland by refusing to form a government with Sinn Féin".
"It must be remembered that 70% of Northern Ireland's citizens voted for pro-agreement parties. All other aspects of the agreement should continue to be fully implemented and not put on hold while discussions proceed. Normalisation must continue. The human rights agenda must be implemented."
The statement said that it was "equally important" that the IRA "take further substantive measures" of decommissioning.
"The guns are silent which is a positive step, but the guns must be removed forever and an end must come to all paramilitary activity – both republican and loyalist."
The statement promised that a Kerry administration would 'stand ready' to assist the British and Irish governments and all of those who work for peace, justice and democracy in Northern Ireland.
"And as president, he will stand ready to play whatever constructive role may be of use to the parties, recognising that most of the hard work remaining to be done must be carried out by the people of Northern Ireland and the two governments."
All good stuff, especially coming from a candidate once derided in his home state of Massachusetts for being "Irish only every sixth year", a reference to the six-year term of a United States senator.
Written statements of intent are useful in mapping a candidate's ideas, but they don't match words from the candidate's mouth.
Among the Democratic hopefuls, only General Clark has yet spoken to the issue of Northern Ireland.
His jibe that Bush was unable to properly deal with the peace process with a '3,000-mile long screwdriver' is heading for the greatest hits archive and begs a verbal response from his rivals, especially Kerry now that he has whetted Irish America's appetite with strong words on paper.
