Not sure if Kos'll throw one up between now and Saturday, but today seems as good a day as any to reset the scorecard.
1. Kerry
He's still the frontrunner, still the guy getting the most attention, and thus still the man to beat. The good news: Who needs a 50 state operation when you can coast on beltway contacts, a lazy media, and a Democrat base going Howard Beale on George W. Bush? The bad news: Edwards ran away laughing in South Carolina and Kerry is on the outside looking in on Edwards and Clark's scrum in Oklahoma. If he doesn't get Gephardt's support in Missouri, this is a far different race. All told, Kerry's still the solid first, but the first bullet has been put into his electability armor.
2. Edwards
Edwards isn't hot on Kerry's heels yet, but he's definitely the ABK frontrunner now. The good news: Not only is the South rallying around it's own, but Edwards is getting good surprises outside of that base - first in Iowa, now in Oklahoma. The bad news: Kerry's still getting most of the press. Aside from South Carolina, Oklahoma, and the distant second in Missouri, Edwards was barely on the radar with even a couple finishes behind Dean. He is the ABK now, but he's going to have to hustle like mad to make up the distance between him and Kerry.
3. Dean
Taking the week off HURT. But he's not quite dead yet. The bad news: Finished behind Holy Joe in Oklahoma. Finished behind Sharpton in South Carolina. He's well behind Kerry and Edwards now. The good news: Then again, this was Plan B. He came away with some delegates and wasn't overwhelmed in the lesser campaigned states. He really needs to pull off some surprises this Saturday to stay in the ABK race, but it ain't lookin' good, kids.
4. Clark
As opposed to Dean's Saturday strategy, this was Clark's make or break week. The results are in: Clark '04 is broken. The bad news: What happened to the Clark - Edwards dogfight that we've been expecting for so long in South Carolina? What happened to the Clark - Kerry dogfights in Oklahoma and Arizona? Kerry has the military high ground and Edwards has the South. Clark's running out of friendly territory. The good news: He might come out with 2 more delegates in Oklahoma than Edwards. Clark can lay low as the dark horse and it may not be too late to attempt a Plan B of his own. But IMO I don't see him doing much more than scavenging as many delegates as he can in case nobody hits the magic number before the brokered convention.
5. Sharpton
He picks up a delegate in Delaware and smokes Clark and Dean in South Carolina. If anything, he just made the convention more entertaining.
6. Kucinich
Best result of the night: 5% in New Mexico. DENNIS-mentum!