Reply #11: Yeah, pretty much

[dolstein]

If Clark wins Oklahoma and Edwards wins South Carolina, both will stick around for the Virginia and Tennessee primaries later this month. And Dean plans to stick around for the Washington and Wisconsin primaries. But as a practical matter, it's going to be hard for anyone to beat Kerry. He gets more media coverage than all the other candidates combined. And the more free media he gets, the higher he moves in the polls. And the higher he moves in the polls, the more campaign contributions he gets. And the more endorsements he gets. And so on.

The only thing that can bring Kerry down at this point is if he does something incredibly stupid or if a lot of negative stories surface in the press. I'm afraid that even if that happens, there may not be any other candiate left who can take advantage of the situation.