In case readers have yet to dig through their normal weekend reading like I, they may be stumbling upon the great article in this week's Economist. The piece runs through the likeliest primary winners of each party and their foreign policy views. Though close followers of the campaigns will not see much new, it is well worth the read.

As the article articulates, not many of the front-runners have extensive foreign policy experience. But there is a stark difference, however, in the level of experience among the second tier candidates on the Democratic side versus the Republican. Biden and Dodd have had storied careers working on international issues in the Senate. Bill Richardson is a former U.N. ambassador and conflict mediator. With the exception of John McCain, most of the Republican candidates–from Thompson to Tancredo to Huckabee–have clocked little or no time with foreign affairs.

While this might not change the outcome of even one of the primaries, it says something about the party bases, which the Economist data supports: Democrats, in this election in particular, are willing to choose their candidate based upon his/her foreign policy views. Does this matter, though, if the candidates offer acutely similar platforms?