Candidates Know Who the Real Frontrunner Is
From today’s Newsweek, this insight:
In the reality TV show that is the 2008 campaign, the Democratic field ganged up on one contender, with the clear intention of voting him off the island. Hillary Clinton may be the front runner in the polls, but Barack Obama was the only candidate to draw repeated fire from his rivals.
NPR reported this morning that Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama were pointedly nice to each other — but the other candidates had no doubt about who was in their sights. To each, Sen. Obama is the biggest obstacle on the path to 1600 Pennsylvania.
It’s flattering. And doubly so given the fact that a SurveyUSA poll of South Carolina debate watchers named Sen. Obama the winner, with 31 percent saying he came out on top.
The Political Wire has a good rundown of other reactions, including David Broder’s observation that “the Democrats have a field of contenders that, by any historical measure, matches in quality any the party has offered in decades.”
