Reply #84: The simple fact is that after the first round of votes from multiple states

[FrenchieCat]

on February 3, 2004, Clark had beaten Edwards in 5 out of 8 contests.....and yet Edwards got all the press nevertheless.

Here's proof. This article was written after Clark had beaten Edwards 5 out of 8 (New Hampshire, North Dakota, Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma are the 5 states where Clark beat Edwards; Edwards by Feb 4th had only beaten Clark in South Carolina, Missouri and Delaware), but before Edwards won any additional contests ......and yet, it is Edwards who is promoted as one of the two (Kerry being the other), not Wes Clark, who is barely mentioned in the article at all.

"AND THEN THERE WERE TWO"
http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2004/02/04/primaries/index.html
Kerry breaks into the open field, with Edwards still in pursuit -- while the Dean meteor continues to burn out.

February 4, 2004 | After a month of surprise, confusion and tumult, the race for the Democratic presidential nomination is, suddenly, much more clear: The nomination is John Kerry's to lose.

John Edwards won in South Carolina Tuesday, and he made a strong showing in an Oklahoma race that was too close to call even after all the votes were in. But Kerry, the liberal senator from Massachusetts, took the bellwether state of Missouri by a commanding margin over Edwards.
-------------------

By February 7th, when Edwards did win those additional contests over Clark (Maine, Michigan, Tennesse and Virginia), it would have been a wonder if he hadn't, as the media only talked about Kerry and Edwards, and Clark was totally not reported on.

In fact, Edward was projected and heralded by CNN constantly as the South Carolina Winner on February 3rd all during the time that Oklahoma voters were still voting! Here is one of those reports calling South Carolina for Edwards, and yet acknowledging that the other states had not yet finished voting.

WOODRUFF (voice-over): Aside from South Carolina's 45 delegates, polls will close at the top of the hour at 8:00 p.m. Eastern in four more states, putting another 143 delegates in play: Delaware, Missouri, North Dakota and Oklahoma.

Missouri, with 74 delegates at stake, is tonight's biggest prize. Delaware has 15 delegates up for grabs. North Dakota is holding caucuses for that state's 14 Democratic delegates.

Finally, at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, polls close in Oklahoma with 40 Democratic delegates. And then at 9:00 p.m. Eastern, polls close in two more states, Arizona and New Mexico. Arizona Democrats will hand over 55 delegates, and in the New Mexico caucuses, 26 delegates are at stake. All together tonight, 269 delegates at stake in seven states.
(END VIDEOTAPE) WOODRUFF: So Wolf, if my math is right, 45 down and only 224 to go by 9:00 tonight.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0402/03/se.07.html

In other words, the media went to work, and thats who beat Wes Clark in those last contests, not John Edwards so much.

Odd how some Edwards supporters constantly mention the media's ignoring Edwards as the primary factor as to why Edwards has been lagging in current polls ...but somehow Clark being ignored by the media after beating Edwards in actual overall contests (in where people voted) til February 7th is never cited as the primary reason Clark faltered in the 2004 primaries, even though that is exactly why it happened as it did.