How Obama and Clinton Supporters Grabbed Centre-stage

It is inevitable during a long and grueling presidential primary campaign. There are months of victory speeches, as well as losers' speeches that sound like victory speeches. Eventually the public's attention begins to wander, and before long all eyes are drawn to the supporters behind the candidate's head.

This why bloggers and newscasters picked out, and commentated on, a woman who was crying hysterically over Barack Obama's left shoulder during his marathon Super Tuesday victory speech (you can watch it at tinyurl.com/3keccj). This is how everyone spotted - who could miss them? - the three young men in T-shirts with outsize Abercrombie & Fitch logos who stood behind Obama in Indiana two weeks ago. The trio were replaced by middle-aged women for Obama's next appearance.

The Abercrombie & Fitch boys spawned a rash of internet intrigue. Given that supporters who stand behind the podium are hand picked by organizers in order to reflect the candidate's demographic reach, many bloggers suspected that the A&F Three were chosen to illustrate Obama's appeal either to bullet-headed frat boys or gay men (it is a testament to A&F's demographic reach that it could have been either). Others believed it was deliberate product placement, or clever viral marketing, obliging both the clothing brand and Obama's people to issue denials. So who were they?

The mystery deepens with repeated viewings. The three seem slightly uncomfortable, and their cheers are out of sync with those of more seasoned supporters. At one point, the leftmost takes a call on his mobile, and it is clear from his expression that the person on the other end is shouting, "Dude, I can see you on TV!"

The explanation, when it came, was disappointing. The A&F Three were genuine, if not hard-core, Obama supporters. Two of them are brothers, and one of them works at the A&F store in Evansville. They dress like that all the time, and the organizers who put them behind Obama simply failed to anticipate the impact of the giant logos on the small screen.

Yesterday, the Gawker website pointed out that on Tuesday night two women standing behind Hillary Clinton were wearing campaign stickers on their foreheads in the manner of a doomsday cult, and that this perhaps was a sign that the end of the campaign was nigh. Actually overexcited supporters often slap stickers on their heads during victory celebrations, but if Hillary's people can no longer be bothered to cull them from the frame, then maybe it really is over.