Barack Obama proves he will be a formidable candidate, though it is probably too soon to say — as far too many of the television talking heads did last night — that he is now the favorite to win the White House.
Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, now has a lot to prove. A candidate whose entire campaign had been based on her inevitability just can’t finish third — and a candidate making a direct appeal to women shouldn’t allow her rival to garner more support from women.
Joe Conason, in a fine column, points out the image that summed up for me Clinton’s failure — Madeleine Albright and other members of the Cinton old guard standing behind the candidate, a “listless tableau of the old Clinton administration” that “only heightened the freshness and vitality of Obama’s superb victory speech.”
John Edwards put a lot of effort into Iowa to finish second, but he finished far stronger than expected — a victory of sorts that should mean more cash and a bit of momentum. And — while the pundits won’t necessarily admit it — a receptiveness to his anticorporate message.
And Bill Richardson may have earned himself a chance to be considered as VP.
On the Republican, welcome to anarchy. Mike Huckabee’s victory seems, at least to me, to be evidence of the rent fabric of the GOP coalition. The evangelicals don’t trust Rudy Giuliani, John McCain or Mitt Romney; the business conservatives despise Huckabee; no one seems to like Fred Thompson; and the security faction — well, does it even exist at this point.
I think the headline on this New York Times story — “Race Upended, Candidates Sprint Toward Tuesday Vote” — is pretty accurate.
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