On the first day of the Texas campaign she was booed by a crowd that moments before had been enthusiastically cheering. One of the unwritten stories about this campaign is how much those large public events involve supporters of both candidates who are equally excited to see either one of them in person. Especially in "late primary" states where voters are unexpectedly getting a lot of attention this time around.

This new campaign ad is directly aimed at what the Clinton camp obviously feels is Obama's weakness (his healthcare plan). The ad is actually quite good, a restrained-negative I think is a fair characterization. It draws a contrast between the candidates while also criticizing Obama for failing to agree to a debate in Wisconsin. One wonders why this kind of advertisement was not run on Super Tuesday, or in the 8 states that he just won by landslide proportions. Perhaps the Clinton campaign did not have enough funds to do so. It is certainly not sensationalistic, though it is a favorite campaign strategy to go after the front runner and try to pin him (or her) down for debates. I hope he does debate her, because I think that such one-on-one discussions are helpful to voters. I don't agree with the way the word "universal" is often used in the ongoing discussion of the Edwards, Obama and Clinton health care reform plans, but she has a right to challenge him to debate the difference in their approach. I guess he'll put out an ad (again) telling voters about mandates... fasten your seat belts, folks, it's going to be a bumpy few weeks. (HT: Andrew Sullivan, Apologies to the late Bette Davis for appropriating her famous line.)