Let's take a stroll back in time to the Democratic primary race of 1968.
And lets imagine things this way for a moment, shall we?
Obama = Gene McCarthy
Edwards = Bobby Kennedy
Clinton = Hubert Humphrey
Two change candidates, Gene McCarthy and Bobby Kennedy. One status quo candidate, Hubert Humphrey.
Gene McCarthy was against the war first. RFK's transformation to being anti-war came later. The McCarthy supporters call RFK fake because of his lateness.
There is an incredible amount of youth support for McCarthy. Young hippie supporters cut their hair and put on suits to go "Clean for Gene". RFK has trouble tapping into the youth vote.
The Hump abandons the youth vote and the progressive vote, content to try to use the party machinery to roll over his opposition.
RFK talks about poverty. He uses white-hot rhetoric to push a populist agenda. McCarthy relies on a "cooler" and more academic rhetoric.
McCarthy takes the early primaries. Bobby Kennedy keeps fighting, and slowly makes his case.
Humphrey is able to use his institutional support to remain in the race and wait for someone to stumble.
As the primaries roll on, RFK finally overtakes McCarthy. The Democratic primary electorate finally concludes RFK is a better agent of change than McCarthy.
And then Bobby Kennedy gets shot to death, and we never find out how the three way race would've turned out.
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I know there are many, many differences between RFK/McCarthy/Humphrey and Edwards/Obama/Clinton.
I know there are many, many differences between how we selected our nominee in '68 and how we do it in '08.
But there are some interesting parallels.
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One more note:
Everyone thinks this is going to be a short race, but what if it isn't?
After Tsunami Tuesday on February 5th, only 45% of the delegates will have been firmly allocated. That means 55% of the delegates will still be in motion after February 5th.
The Edwards/Obama alliance we saw Saturday night could make for a longer primary race than we saw in 2000 and 2004 - and a far more interesting race too. Three is a magic number.