News from the campaign trail

So here is a quick round up of this week's political news : 

1. Obama defeated Clinton in the Wisconsin primary and the Hawaii caucus. He has been increasingly chipping away at her electoral base : women, blue-collar workers and less significantly older democrats. All the commentators are wondering whether this is Clinton's last stand and whether she will be able to hold the fort (Alamo, of course) in Texas and Ohio. 
2. McCain also took the two States that were voting on Tuesday : Wisconsin and Washington (in this State the GOP organizes both a caucus -FEB 9- and a primary : each event allocating half of the delegates). 
3. McCain had to fight an attack on his ethic choices and allegations of marital infidelity. The New York Times published an article on the subject on Thursday. This has provoqued a tidal wave of criticism against the NYT from all sides : from the left with the analysis of the New Republic and obviously from the right. The journalists who wrote the original attack are under fire and responding to the questions asked by readers.
4. Senator Obama's idyll with the media seems to have come to an abrupt end and his candidacy is being increasingly questionned. The French "In blog we trust" offers a good presentation of what the disenamoured press has been saying on Obama's lack of substance.
5. Obama responded to attacks on his campaign as being all-words no substance by yet another rhetorical flight : "I have a dream, just words?, we hold these truths to be self evident that all men were created equal, just words? We have nothing to fear but fear itself, just words? Don't tell me words don't matter." Senator Clinton pointed out that Senator Obama had lifted these words off Governor Deval Patrick. The latter works in the Obama campaign and the problem was dismissed as a non issue. However there has been several other mentions of plagiarism by Barack Obama and by Hillary Clinton. 
6. The two Democratic Senators met in Austin, Texas for a debate during which they highlighted their differences especially on health care. Watch the debate and read the transcript or read a short summary in English or one in French. The debate ended on a note of unity and fair-play when Sen. Clinton said she was honoured to be on the stage with Sen. Obama ; the two candidates then shook hand effusively !
7. The race for John Edwards' endorsement is still on. The following video summarizes this week's news on the Democratic side.