Wearing his political strategist hat, Jay Severin, on his Boston (WTKK) radio show yesterday before the debate, analyzed it like a football game. He said Edwards and Obama were behind by three touchdowns, and what they had to do was score on defense, “make Hillary cough up the ball.” All she had to do, said Severin, was not make a mistake. “Just run the ball straight up the middle.”
Severin counseled using “front-runner jujitsu” as a tactic for Obama and Edwards at this point. That is, they should consistently refer to Hillary as the frontrunner, imply that she’s got the nomination sewed up, and hope that primary voters react badly to the spectacle of Clinton being the de facto nominee so early in the process. Severin conceded that this would be a desperation move, but it’s interesting that neither Obama nor Edwards did it last night.
I’d have to agree with Severin that Edwards and Obama have had nothing but “three and out.” They haven’t really scored at all.
