(Crossposted from The Field.)
A year ago yesterday, noting the fast post-Iowa collapse of what had been Senator Clinton's commanding lead in national polls until then, I posted that image, above, to The Field.
For a year prior, Clinton had led Obama and the others in all national polls by 15 to 20 points more or less. But then on January 3, Obama won the Iowa caucuses, and many who thought his candidacy a lark full of hopey illusion began to see it as hard nosed and viable. The national numbers snapshot on January 7 suddenly told a new narrative:
Clinton 33 percent (-8 since Iowa)
Obama 29 (+5)
Edwards 20 (+3)
Clinton's third place showing in Iowa had blown the gasket on the "inevitable nominee" argument being pushed (most loudly by her top strategist Mark Penn) and her public image had become an icy caricature frozen by her own handlers' insistence on packaging her as the candidate of "experience" and toughness, until on January 7...
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