the real contest

Before they can get our vote, presidential hopefuls must get our attention. Hillary did that, intentionally or not (I think her tearing up wasn’t intentional but that she immediately recognized that she could make it work for her and that she seized the moment), and it worked. The other day, the New York Times, describing the desultory state of Rudy Giuliani’s campaign, said [e.a.]:

Mr. Giuliani’s campaign has been marginalized in recent weeks. Efforts to inject itself into the news cycle - including the release of a television commercial featuring Osama bin Laden and the smoldering wreckage of the World Trade Center - have had mixed results and been largely overshadowed by the contests in Iowa and New Hampshire.

The real contest is for our attention.

Giuliani shouldn’t feel too bad. As I write, our president is in the Middle East trying to suggest that he’s making peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians (a burning issue for 60 years), and even he can’t get any press.