Originally Posted By: Matter-eater Man

If the protestors were set out to send a message why would Clinton's handling of the hostage situation change what they were going to do?


If she had gotten a significant bounce of goodwill, one might expect the protesters to cut her some slack for a while, or at least not boo (which is generally considered overly rude even in politics).

For example, for a while after 9/11 even his political foes and the talk show comedians (Leno, Letterman, etc.) tended to lay off President Bush for a while after 9/11. That was a significant bounce of good will.

As for the poll issue, I could be wrong, but her lead in Iowa went from double digits to single digits to even (I think) at one point Obama being in the lead. If so, that was a significant surge on his part, whereas, a one-point shift back in either direction, given a poll's margin of error, isn't.