Clinton And Obama Off The Cliff

6:05 am EST December 23rd, 2007 | News | 4 Comments

I swear, it’s like the Clinton and Obama campaigns slept through 2003 and 2004. The two campaigns are locked in to sniping at each other over idiotic petty things like how many ex-Clintonistas are attached to which campaign. Does nobody on either team remember the flame war between Dick Gephardt and Howard Dean? I’m not wild about the process and how it gives so much control to a state like Iowa, but that’s no excuse for ignoring precedent. The voters there don’t like this kind of stuff (I’d go so far as to say it shows immaturity compared to the rest of the electorate, but that’s moot) and reward the candidate they see as “the good guy”. In 2004 it was Kerry, and right now it’s probably Edwards. I’m skeptical of how Edwards can parlay an Iowa win into anything beyond the immediate roadblock of New Hampshire where an Iowa bump can’t help. But that’s no reason for Clinton and Obama to hand him a win.

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4 Responses to “Clinton And Obama Off The Cliff”

  1. jerry says:
    December 23, 2007 at 10:44 am

    Well…. I agree with you, but since I’m currently pissed off with both Clinton and Obama, ….

  2. Sabutai says:
    December 23, 2007 at 11:14 am

    Maybe he can. Remember, Edwards got well pasted in New Hampshire 2004, but he airily dismissed it as not counting because there were two New Englanders involved. He can similarly dismiss a strong Clinton showing with the same line. If labor support gets him somewhere in Nevada, followed by loyal Southerners votin’ fer one of dere own in the Troglodyte Primary, Edwards is back in the race.

    That said, the poison in the Dean/Gephardt thing was carried out over the airwaves, in television ads and radio ads, as well as mailers and volunteer activities. A lot of the Clinton/Obama stuff seems confined to dueling press releases and inside baseball stuff that doesn’t such in the average voter. (It’s also a shame that everyone has bought into the idea that a Clinton/Obama flameout must perforce benefit Edwards, when you have three men running behind this pack who aren’t exactly slouches.)

  3. Oliver Willis says:
    December 23, 2007 at 11:34 am

    They may be nice guys but when it comes to presidential politics Biden, Dodd and Richardson are slouches.

  4. C.S.Strowbridge says:
    December 23, 2007 at 1:24 pm

    I have to agree with the slouch assessment. if you are running below the margin of error, you are not going to get a bump from the top tier fighting it out.

    On the other hand, I think a lot of people are supporting Obama because they don’t want Clinton to win. (Check the polls, specifically the number who will definition support their candidate. Obama’s support is softer than Clinton’s.) If Edwards wins in Iowa, he will draw a lot of that soft support away. He might not win in New Hampshire, but if he can get a close second place finish, he would still be in the running.