Okay, I realize everyone’s trying to get the story posted immediately. Perhaps these three (consecutive) paragraphs slipped out, and the WSJ will edit them later.
Today former President Bill Clinton critiqued Mr. Obama’s record while stumping for his wife throughout the state, calling Mr. Obama’s candidacy “the biggest fairy tale I have ever seen.”
Yo! Is the Big Dog taking out his latent frustrations with his wife on the campaign trail?
In the end, it was Mr. Obama’s lack of experience that made many voters opt for the more seasoned Mrs. Clinton. “I like him and I think he’ll be ready in eight years,” said Allison Mundry, a 49-year-old real estate agent in Salem. But for now, she says “We have to vote for someone who can get the Republicans out of office.”
Okay, you’re voting for the candidate who polls the worst of the top three Democrats against the Republicans because we gotta get rid of those damned Republicans? Well, I can pretty near guarantee you they’ll absent themselves from any discussion of a Clinton. They always have.
The Illinois Senator will go on to South Carolina where half of all registered Democrats are African-American and could choose Mr. Obama, the first serious candidate to have a chance at the White House.
“The first serious candidate”? They can’t even bring themselves to say it openly.
"What's an urban guy like you doing in a rustic setting like this?" -- Blazing Saddles
Posted by: Michael on January 9, 2008 6:41 AMApparently neither Democratic voters nor media pundits actually look at all that polling data. The Democratic candidate who consistently scores highest against potential Republican challengers is John Edwards. How often have you heard that?
Seems to me Edwards would do well to emphasize that fact rather than talk about his childhood in poverty all the time.
Posted by: Charley on January 9, 2008 8:01 AMIt does seem that Edwards could do with message retooling. Nothing wrong with what he's saying but he's said it a shitload of times. If we are to believe his website, and go by his advisors, he's a got a bunch of other good stuff to say, most explicitly including electability.
Posted by: Chuck Dupree on January 9, 2008 8:30 AM