Right metaphor, wrong candidate....

The Chimes at Midnight is sometimes wrong...or to put it charitably, half-right.
Back before New Years I idly suggested that a "Bobby Kennedy Moment" spotlight at center stage and all was being relentlessly prepared for General Wesley Clark.
At the time the former NATO Commander seemed to have that ineffable RFK-like mixture of resume and known leadership qualities.
At the time, it was wise, even for the most committed Kerry supporter to perhaps look around for a decent and honorable alternate.
I freely admit this, any other Kerry die hard would say the same, IF you got them drunk enough.
Look what a difference a mere sixty days makes!
Clark tied for first place in Oklahoma with Edwards which has been his best performance to date!
I'm a little shocked at how lackluster the Clark effort has been...but there is in the end something to be said for a long experience of elected public life...an area in which Kerry, Edwards, and Dean all have an advantage.
Nope it is looking more and more like Clark got in because he sensed Kerry was about to tank in N.H. and he, the General could prosper by seeming forfeiture.
This was not necessarily a poor analysis back before Christmas, hell Wellington looked like toast for most of the day at Waterloo....and we all know how that turned out.
The candidate who has seized the RFK moment has turned out to be John Edwards...relentlessly on message, famously upbeat...an ubiquitous campaigner who promises jobs-n-victory 24-7.
I gotta give the guy credit, like Kerry he came up in the polls the hard way if he is in the race to the finish he has earned the run.
General Clark however, seems to be tanking...he may yet recover the initiative but like Edwards and even Kerry to a certain extent, the General is running as a centrist-and that part of the feed is already crowded with claimants.
There was a time when the formula was simply Kerry+Clark or Clark+Kerry in order to co-opt the moderates and present a game face to the general election.
Now however with Edwards on a roll the equation changes to Kerry+Edwards...Dean is fading fast and the big question there is how to induce his followers to support the ticket?
As for General Clark?
Well, it is not such a bad thing for a Secretary of Defense to have run hard and clean in the democratic presidential primaries. Laying claim to a constituency as a cabinet member has certain intangible advantages.
This is all woolgathering on my part...much is dependent on Kerry's continuing prosperity and that can change in an instant.
Health to all our candidates...