Is any further proof necessary that collective punditry has its collective head up its collective ass? Not that Iowa is all that typical…
Truth is, I don't know why they kept calling it a four-way race. The only thing I was as sure of as I am that Lieberman is unelectable is that Gephardt is unelectable. And Sharpton. And Kucinich. But then, I didn't think Edwards would have such a strong showing either.
I don't think that anybody got this right.
I didn't predict such a strong showing for Edwards either, though it remains to be seen whether he can go the distance. Kucinich is about where I expected him to be and about where he expected himself to be. He may be able to win back some of those "I like Kucinich but Dean is inevitable" voters and pick up some of Gephardt's union supporters.
From the analysis that I've seen, Kerry won because of moderate and conservative voters who like his experience and military service. This would seem to be Clark's natural constituency. We'll see in the next week whether Clark can capitalize on this opportunity or if his campaign won't be able to get off the ground. How much does Kerry have left? This could be a last gasp, or it could be his second wind.
Posted by Al-Muhajabah at January 20, 2004 11:22 AMWhat surprises me is the degree to which "electability" overshadowed all other factors.
Posted by P6 at January 20, 2004 01:20 PM