Iowa was, at one point, a contest between Dean and Gephardt. Dean had the lead, Gephardt was nipping at his heels.
So Gephardt launched a barrage of attacks against Dean. It was Dean, Dean, Dean, Dean. The attacks took their toll on Dean, and he started bleeding support. But given the negative nature of Gep's attacks, he didn't actually gain any support either.
And Kerry, the forgotten man, passed them both.
In New Hampshire, it's been a contest between Dean and Kerry. Dean has the lead, and Kerry has been trailing in second.
So Kerry has launched attack after attack at Dean. The attacks have taken a toll on Dean, and he has bled support. But given the negative nature of Kerry's attacks, he didn't gain any support. He bled it, in fact.
And Clark, the late-comer to the race, has passed Kerry and has been nipping at Dean's heels.
Hmmm... Catch the pattern?
The difference is that we still have over a week before New Hampshire, so Kerry has time to fight back. He's already used Shaheen as a surrogate to go after Clark. I suspect many of the anti-Clark "revelations" are coming from the Kerry camp (with a healthy assist from the Dean people).
I think Kerry's people are learning quickly the pitfalls of focusing too narrowly on the frontrunner. They themselves have benefited from such myopia. Which could mean that Clark is about to get squeezed in a vice between Dean and Kerry.
Still, they'll have to do better than the lame "Clark is a Republican and waffled on the war" b.s.