Words to the wise by The Daily Howler:

As has long been noted, voters prefer Democrats on most major issues; this has been the case for years. For that reason, Republicans have largely built White House campaigns around alleged issues of "character." Especially in the Clinton-Gore era, the mainstream press corps played along, giving loud voice to comic-book claims. (Al Gore was raised at the Ritz!) Today, Obama is said to be haughty, pretentious--much like the others before him.

In the process, punishing narratives have locked into place about those haughty Dems. (John Edwards had a big house!) If you're didn't finish fifth from the bottom when you were in college-if you actually know what you're talking about-you're slammed for gross condescension. At present, this is how White House elections get decided-and liberal elites have done an extremely poor job explaining this bull-roar to the public.