Columnist Mark Shields Fancies Himself A Political Strategist

But then again Monday Morning Clacker, a blogger, also fancies himself a political strategist.

Welcome to the Age of the Amateur.

Yesterday, on the Jim Lehrer NewsHour, Mark Shields was asked by Judy Woodruff about the importance of the '08 early primary states. Shields responded:

Nobody has ever been elected president of the United States who did not win the New Hampshire primary or, at the very worst, finished second. Only two have done that. And in Iowa, nobody has ever been nominated who finished less than third.

I think Iowa and New Hampshire are even more important now than they've been in the past. And if I were counseling any candidate, I'd say, "You win Iowa and New Hampshire, don't worry about the others, because the victory will follow you.

We completely agree with Shields.

You can't spell "momentum", "comeback" or "inevitability" without New Hampshire. It's the one "known" in this clulsterf*ck of a nomination process.

And when we say clusterf*ck, we mean clusterf*ck.

The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza has the details (his opinion anyway) of what January 29 - February 5 looks like, which is also known as that "crazy time that comes after NH and Iowa".

Ugly.

The World Is Changing, Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Da, Zip-A-Dee-Ay

Some of the descriptive labels for "Our Age" (as suggested by Jacques Barzun) - Age of Uncertainty, Age of Science, Age of Nihilism, Age of Massacres, Age of the Masses, Age of Globalism, Age of Dictatorships, Age of Design, Age of Defeat, Age of Communication, Age of the Common Man, Age of Cinema and Democracy, Age of the Child, Age of Anxiety, Age of Anger, Age of Absurd Expectations.

How many of these labels should this YouTube video be tagged with?

We're not in Kansas anymore.

Edwards Camp Moves Forward In New Hampshire

The Edwards camp sent out a press release this morning trumpeting the opening of 8 new campaign offices in New Hampshire (Berlin, Dover, Derry, Keene, Laconia, Lebanon, Nashua and Portsmouth) The campaign already has community offices in Concord and Manchester.

The campaign also announced the hiring of 11 new field staffers, which brings the total number of Edwards staffers in NH to 40.

Although "conventional wisdom" thinks we're nuts (probably for more than just one reason), we believe that the Democrat most likely to take down Hillary Clinton (if she can even be taken down) is John Edwards.

And yes, we are aware of Obama's very impressive 250,000.

And that Chris Dodd is running a great race so far (with not a lot of traction).

And don't get us started on the failed former Energy Secretary.

We like Edwards chances for two reasons.

First, his politics are a "big side of Democrat to go along with your serving of Democrat".

Which is they way to be in a Democratic primary fight.

Second, and almost more importantly, Edwards has been through this "microwave" before. In 2004.

Crib Note: Seasoned and hardened and vetted. At the Presidential level.

Which is a significant advantage over every other Democrat running with the exception of Hillary Clinton.

Microwave candidate v. Microwave candidate in the '08 Democratic Primary? Time will tell.