I noticed the following bit in a Reuters story about Al Sharpton's endorsement of Kerry:

Sharpton, a Pentecostal preacher best known for his fiery rhetoric and confrontational style, was a big hit in the joint debates among Democratic candidates but made little impact at the ballot box.

Isn't this a bit self-contradictory? Whether Sharpton was a hit at the debates depends largely on whether people voted for him as a result of the debates. And they didn't.

Sharpton was loud, I'll grant you that. But that doesn't mean he was a hit.

And by the way -- as Peter Beinart pointed out in The New Republic last week -- Sharpton lost the black vote to Kerry by large margins, as high as 50% in some states. Sharpton's styled himself as a spokesman for black people in this race; but his histrionics did not even translate into a win among black voters.