Granted, here after the New Hampshire primary, I have very little idea of who that Democrat’s going to be, except to say that it won’t be Joseph Lieberman or Wes Clark — the former is dogged but pathetic, and the latter has proven to be too ill-prepared a candidate to last the long haul.
It just goes to show that I know jack shit about politics, because I am perplexed by the underwhelming nature of John Kerry’s momentum — in spite of his convincing win this evening, there’s still a fragile quality to his candidacy, as if that stony face would crumble under just a few degrees more of intense scrutiny.
Great (and Not So Great) Expectations
As for Howard Dean, I was convinced more than ever this past week that he lacked for true electability, but he’s somehow pulled his political machine up by the bootstraps and made a strong second place this evening, even if Kerry beat him by double-digits. It was an impressive week for him, and he’s proven, if nothing else, that he has the makings of a deft politician, if only he can be chastened once in a while.
What I can’t figure out is why John Edwards wasn’t able to make more of his surprise second-place finish in Iowa. I watched the boy Senator’s concession speech last Monday night and it was really, really impressive, and it made me reconsider my previous dismissal of his candidacy as a practice run. As of this evening’s returns, though, he seems to have finished a very close fourth behind Wes Clark, though Clark’s performance relative to expectations is so poor as to make it more damaging for him than Edwards, I think.
Anyway, on to 03 Feb’s contests in Oklahoma, New Mexico, North Dakota, Missouri, Arizona, South Carolina and Delaware! I wrote that list from memory, can you believe it?
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