Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Back to the Future

In the "Person of the Year" Issue of Time (it's me...and you!) tiny Joe Klein hands in a short, obvious slice of journalistic homework handicapping the 2008 situation on the ground for Democrats in Iowa. Klein (with the help of the Davids Yepsen and Broder) posits that people in Iowa really like Edwards, no one really wants to actually vote for Hillary, and Obama was catching a wave of support even prior to his recent multi-media blitz (his Monday Night Football introduction was risky genius--if you missed it, here). Yepsen acknowledges that Iowans don't yet view Vilsack in a "presidential frame" (I bet it's a pretty frame...I wonder if its gilded?). Klein then insolubly suggests if Iowans deem out-of-towners too slick Vilsack could benefit (but I thought Iowans already liked Edwards?). Ah, well, who needs logic when you occupy such a small part of the magazine? Limited copy, limited deduction.

So after some "mainstream media" respect for Edwards' numbers in the first caucus state, we get this junk from Adam Nagourney in today's Times. Noting that Edwards' will most likely announce his candidacy next week in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, Nagourney writes:

Democrats said his campaign was gambling that the television networks and cable news programs would find New Orleans a compelling setting in a week when they were desperate for news and when many Americans would be in front of their television sets, albeit looking for football more than politics.

Unconventional announcements are conventional for Mr. Edwards. In 2004, he made his announcement on Jan. 2. That, of course, didn’t work out so well for him.

Snarkiness aside, this last line is objectively untrue. Only in America, when a one-term Senator with a working class-to-riches life story runs for President, places a surprise second in the Iowa caucuses, becomes the Vice Presidential nominee of a major political party and then finds himself well-positioned for another run at the White House in 2008, could a "reporter" label this not "work[ing] out so well."

It's going to be a long race. Happy shopping.

1 comment:

lunkhead said...

Edwards has no chance of winning the nomination. His smug, self-absorbed 'populist' campaign will fizzle out. He made his riches as a personal injury attorney! Hillary will win the nomination and Obama will be her running mate. Winning the presidency, however, is anything but a foregone conclusion. Bayh's withdrawal claimed one of the few centrists in the Democratic party.