The Socialist In A Strange Land

Michael Kruse: "I don't know if I've confronted that issue," he said.

"I mean, I know it's there.

"It's coming, okay?"

This was Brian Moore on the lanai behind his home. Moore is the Hernando County man who ran for Congress in 2002 and 2004, and then for Senate in 2006, and now is the presidential candidate of the Socialist Party.

He was nominated last fall. Since then, not a lot has gone right: His wife lost her job, and she was the family's primary wage-earner. Cellulitis kept him in a hospital in California for a week and a half when he was supposed to be campaigning.

All of this has Moore, 64, confronting a crossroads.