There have been a couple of really interesting front page posts over the past day or so about Hillary Clinton's electability and experience, and it got me to thinking about something that I'd like to share with you all.

I'm currently writing, or in fact have just about finished writing, a thesis on campaign strategy in the 1976 Ford v Carter Presidential election.

"Well done you," I hear you say. "But why are you telling us this?"  Well, while I'm not sure that any true parallels can be drawn between the 1976 and the 2008 elections, there's an interesting idea that was important in '76 that I think could shed some further light on Hillary Clinton's "electability" situation this time around.

You see, one of the most interesting things that I've been researching while writing this thesis has been the concept of "candidate images". A candidate image is, to put it simply, the idea an average voter has of a candidate in their head. It can come from anything, from conventional wisdom to comedic skits, from opponent attacks to actual impressions of meeting the candidate face to face.