Mr. Bush's political enemies, and much of the pundit class, have mocked his command of English, his debating skills and his limited political experience.

And what about the damage done to the pundit class, Mr. Stephanopoulos was asked.

The conventional view among the pundit class is that this middle-class restoration, valuable as it was for Democrats, creates thorny new tensions.

While this disdain for the ways of Washington may be admirable, it's not popular among the pundit class inside the Beltway.

Would it be inherently destabilizing to have the entire pundit class in one country and all the missiles and space technology in the other?

At the same time, the pundit class was making much of former President Bush's remark that he was growing irritated with President Clinton's attacks on Mr. Bush's son.

"The labels are made by the pundit class," John Zogby opines.

Let us then (as perorations begin) resist such lumping together by "the pundit class," talking heads sitting gingerly on talking points.

By contrast, Newsweek said, "the first reaction of the pundit class was near hysteria."

An early favorite of the pundit classes in Washington and New York, Mr. Huntsman has bet it all on New Hampshire.