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  Message Theft

  Posted Tuesday, January 08, 2008 10:38 AM | By Christopher Beam

  A major theme of this campaign so far has been message theft. Everyone wants "change"—so much that if you want to stand out, you pretty much have to defend the status quo. Everyone claims to be running for the youth of America. And here's the most recent line to work its way into every candidate's speech:

  “For me and Elizabeth, this is personal.”—John Edwards, everywhere he stops, distinguishing between "academic" and "political" motivations of his opponents. 

  “This is personal for me.”—Barack Obama, Lebanon City Hall, N.H., Jan. 7 

  "This is very personal for me."—Hillary Clinton, Jan. 7, during “crying” episode.

  Why don't they just merge their candidacies already? 

About Christopher Beam

• Christopher Beam is a Slate political reporter.

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