Adios, Iowa

Interesting: 2 Top Democrats Will Not Contest Iowa's Caucuses

Two prominent Democratic presidential candidates, Gen. Wesley K. Clark and Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, have decided to bypass Iowa's presidential caucuses, angering some party leaders there and signaling what could be a very different nomination battle next year.

Actually, what it signals is that having high-ish national poll numbers doesn't translate into state-level success and that Clark and Liberman are in a weak position. This will be spun as strategy, but it simply demonstrates a lack of strength by both candidates with the liberal wing of the Democratic Party. This is problematic for both candidates, as much of the nominating electorate is made up of the liberal wing of the Democratic Party.

This will also allow the other candidates the opportunity to paint the two of them as running away from a fight.

Plus, this has been tried before, and it hasn't worked.

The important part of this is that it will give Dean, Kerry and Gephardt center stage at the first big Democratic event, media-wise--at just the time a lot of voters will start paying attention.