Like Like Dana, I thought the Clinton camp's attacks on Obama for trying to mobilize Iowa's student population were a bit unseemly. But, frankly, they weren't nearly as odd as the repeated e-mails trumpeting the fact that, in kindergarten, Obama wrote an essay entitled "Why I Want to be President," this disproving Obama's claim that he's "not running to fulfill some long held plans.” This actually strikes me as the Clinton campaign in full scramble. Till now, I've been immensely impressed with the discipline of their attacks. Everything -- everything -- was narrative based, dedicated to furthering impressions of Obama as inexperienced. Over the last week or two, however, the campaign has moved into a full-court press, attacking Obama on anything and everything, in the hopes that something will stick. The focus on the inexperienced narrative has dissipated, giving way to attacks on policy (Social Security and health care), ambition, etc. Some of these assaults are fair, some aren't, but the scattershot fusillade has certainly grown more desperate and less controlled, reflecting, I'd bet, the sentiments of the campaign. Additionally, you have the campaign e-mailing out Iowa polls that show them ahead, which they've not done till now. They're worried. --Ezra Klein
