Kindergarten Cops

The problem, says Cost, is that "her assault has been clumsy."

Weekly Standard blogger Richelieu says Obama is playing rope-a-dope:

"I've thought that as Obama rises in Iowa, Hillary would lose it, go on the attack, and fall right into Obama's spider web. It appears to be happening. Obama's (smart) bet is that in this election people want to change the style of politics, not just the faces in Washington. Hillary kicking and scratching away at Obama . . . is exactly the Old School Hillary voters don't want.

"Obama knows this. He wants Clinton to attack and become the old-politics foil he needs. While Clinton flails away and sinks further in the quicksand of a change election, Obama will tisk-tisk her and continue delivering his sermons."

Americablog's John Aravosis is one of the few to question whether Barack has what it takes:

"Were Obama to win the Democratic nomination, could he win the national election? I'm constantly surprised by Republicans I meet who really like Obama. I think he has great cross-over potential for picking up Republican votes. But, there are some potential hurdles. To what degree will Obama's race be a problem with some voters? And does Obama, or his team, have the experience to take on the Republican attack machine? Just look what the Republicans did to John Kerry. Say what you will about Hillary, but her people know how to fight."

Huckabee is getting pummeled for saying on Tuesday that he hadn't heard about the NIE downgrading Iran as a nuclear threat. Dick Polman goes nuclear:

"It speaks volumes about the fluidity (and quality) of the Republican race that the hottest candidate in the pack is a guy who (a) doesn't believe in evolution, and (b) doesn't have a shred of foreign policy expertise - nor, apparently, the antennae to monitor key foreign policy developments.

"The (a) factor clearly isn't hurting Mike Huckabee as he trolls successfully for religious conservative voters in Iowa. But if his candidacy truly takes off, that pesky (b) factor could be a big problem for him down the road. I'll say why in a moment, but first, let's look at the (b) factor in action. Last night, Huckabee had dinner with some reporters in Des Moines.

"OK, I understand that Huckabee has been very busy this week . . . and I understand that he is still operating his campaign on a shoestring and therefore probably doesn't have foreign policy briefers at his elbow. But still. Imagine the laughter on the right if a Democratic candidate had confessed to being clueless about this development."

Meanwhile, Murray Waas has some documents that he says show that Huckabee, as Arkansas governor, aggressively pushed for early release of a rapist who went on to rape and murder another woman. The documents include a letter from one of Wayne Dumond's past victims, saying she feared he would strike again. But Marc Ambinder says the state parole board ultimately made the decision (though Huckabee had planned to commute Dumond's sentence).

The NYT has a big piece on Huckabee's pastoral roots: "Mr. Huckabee risks scorn from secular voters for defending the biblical creation story against Darwin, but faces accusations from some fellow Christians that he is soft on a range of issues, including liberal thinking in his own denomination."