A couple of lucky breaks for the GOP in the way the two races are shaping up…
1) Those who seek a Democratic victory in 2008 will criticize, attack, smear and slime the GOP nominee no matter what happens, and no matter who he is. But for now, every critical MSM reporter, talking head, journalist, dirt-digger, etc., is dividing their efforts, and spending perhaps three quarters of their time gathering mud to sling on a person who won’t be the nominee.
Think of the research, legwork, and purple-prosed writings that were put together to expose, “The Dark Side of Fred Thompson…” that will now probably never see the light of day.
2) The Obama-Clinton fight — and the racial component therein – continues to eat up massive amounts of news space, particularly in the MSM. Yes, it cuts into the GOP candidates’ abilities to spread their message to the general public. But they don’t really need to accomplish that goal at this moment; right now they need to reach Republican primary voters, and they’re continuing to do that through Fox News, talk radio, alternative media, etc.
Right now, if you’re a barely-engaged voter, the biggest story in recent weeks has been Bill Clinton saying mean things about that nice guy Barack Obama. That is just about the best possible dominant storyline that could emerge for Republicans at this point.