The Democrats Southern Fried Feuding

Good chemistry, Paul Tsongas liked to say when asked why he and his rival Bill Clinton got on so well. Clinton would point out that he and Tsongas were the two candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination offering broad, serious economic plans. That was in New Hampshire barely a month ago -- a lifetime in the compacted nominating calendar. By last week the chemistry had turned combustible as each struggled to define the other in negative terms, an exchange that revealed as much about themselves as each other.

After last Tuesday's contests, the former Senator from Massachusetts and the Arkansas Governor...