Opinion: Ranking the Democrats

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Want to know the magic word in the Democratic presidential race today? Tiers. As in, based on the latest fundraising reports, how do the candidates stack up?

The Wall Street Journal, taking note of the huge sums garnered by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, says that ‘an important subtext arising from the latest round of fundraising reports is the growing distance between’ those two ‘and the second-tier candidates.”

The Journal doesn’t break it down beyond that, but ABC News does. ‘The Democratic field looks like it has three tiers now --- Obama and Clinton at the top,’ John Edwards and Bill Richardson ‘in the next grouping, and everyone else bringing up the rear,’ its daily political note opines.

Our favorite, though, comes from NBC News’ First Read. It decided to be even more precise, creating five tiers. That would be: ‘Clinton and Obama in tier 1; Edwards and Richardson in tier 2; (Chris) Dodd and (Joe) Biden in tier 3; (Dennis) Kucinich in tier 4; and (Mike) Gravel on another planet.’

Then there’s this perspective quote, courtesy of ABC News, from Edwards aide Jonathan Prince,, when asked about such groupings: ‘Tiers, shmeers.’

-- Don Frederick

Photo: Sen. Hillary Clinton; Credit: John G. Mabanglo/EPA