EagleTribune.com : Blogs : The Soapbox

New polls by CNN and the New York Times show both Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee gaining ground on their opponents in the Democratic and Republican presidential contests respectively.
Ironically, the former has one of the least developed records on which to run, while the latter was a virtual unknown outside his home state of Arkansas until a few weeks ago.
Yes, Obama has Oprah, who campaigned on his behalf in Manchester, N.H. among other places last weekend. But does anyone really know what he stands for or what kind of chief executive he would be?
Yet such is the public’s thirst for “something different” these days, that the lack of a substantial record of accomplishment might actually be a plus.
Certainly it was a big factor in Deval Patrick’s election as governor of Massachusetts last year, as well as in Carol Shea-Porter’s
election to Congress in New Hampshire that same year.
We’ll see in a few years how this method of electing people to high office has worked out.