The hope of the world
http://www.guardian.co.uk/leaders/story/0,3604,1161446,00.html
Leader
Thursday March 4, 2004
The Guardian
On the eve of the Iowa caucuses less than seven weeks ago, seasoned US
observers were forecasting that the battle for the Democratic party's
2004 presidential nomination would be nasty, brutal and - quite
possibly - long. With at least six plausible heavyweight candidates,
and with the insurgent former Vermont governor Howard Dean seemingly
the man to beat, the talk was of cultural division, political
bloodletting and the prospect that the contest might even produce the
first brokered Democratic convention in the cleaned-up, post-1968 era.
In the event, and to the consternation of Republicans, such forecasts
have proved to be wholly wrong. Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts
won comfortably in Iowa on January 19 and has never looked back. This
week Mr Kerry effectively locked up the nomination by winning nine out
of 10 "Super Tuesday" primaries, including big wins in vote-rich
California and New York, and forcing his last serious rival, John
Edwards of North Carolina, to abandon his own impressive presidential
bid.
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