There has been all sorts of talk lately about Hillary Clinton gaining on Barack Obama in the momentum department. I say that while she may have some increased media attention these days, it can only qualify as “buzz” once she gets four or five people to full-on faint in her presence. This, of course, is not a problem for Obama, who’s been making his followers weak at the knees for months. As highlighted in the video above, there seems to be an unusually high number of fainting incidents at Obama rallies, all of which leads to the question of why? Most people will chalk it up to some combination of star power, leadership, and good old-fashioned Obamania. Others (a.k.a. haters) will cite “scientific” and “medical” explanations: it was hot, it was too crowded, she was dehydrated, he was malnourished. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That might all sound convincing, but let’s take a look at the bigger picture here. Given that all these candidates have roughly the same number of rallies in the same variety of climates drawing the same numbers of people to the same sized venues, the law of averages would dictate that surely Clinton and McCain would have pretty much the same number of fainters as Obama. I mean, they’ve all campaigned in hot, crowded venues, they’ve surely all had a number of supporters arrive on empty stomachs, and I’m positive at least one or two people in the audience have been dehydrated. So why don’t these people fall on their faces when non-Obama’s speak? IT JUST DOESN’T MAKE SENSE.

I’d like to ascribe this anomaly to some sort of supernatural, near-religious force that we should all bow down to, but that may be a stretch. Maybe Obama doesn’t have more fainters. Maybe it’s just that his fainters are the only ones to get press coverage. Personally, I think that’s just another indicator of how his buzz dwarfs his rivals, but again, naysayers will surely cry, “Media bias!” That argument doesn’t really hold true, though, because the media bias has shifted towards Clinton recently, and therefore, by that logic, she should have had at least ONE fainting incident reported in the news by now. But there have been none — not even a seizure or a mild rapture. It leads me to believe that this rash of fainting is not just the result of skewed media coverage, but a phenomenon specific to the Obama camp.

But why? Ultimately, one has to face the very real possibility that maybe Obama fans are just physically weaker in crowds, more forgetful about eating, more sensitive to heat, more likely to be exhausted, and less apt to drink water. Perhaps it’s that he’s so magnetic that people instantly flock to him, even if it means braving the debilitating heat, foregoing a meal or two, or missing a good night’s sleep. I say his supporters are willing to show up despite being exhausted and dehydrated and prime targets for a bad case of the vapors, eager to cram into a stuffy, overcrowded auditorium — equilibrium be damned — just to hear Obama speak. These are dedicated people, and that counts for a lot. You can’t overlook a candidate whose leadership inspires people to risk their health just to see him.

Would a Clinton fan skip lunch to see her speak? I’m not so sure. I’m thinking there might be a little “I better stop by Quiznos real quick” going on. Would a McCain supporter eschew a sip of water in order to get to the rally as soon as possible? Doubtful. They’re dawdling about, reaching for those Dasanis and Aquafinas and Evians like there’s no tomorrow. But the Obama peeps, they won’t let anything distract them from seeing their man to the White House. It’s now or never, and they’ve got their eyes on the prize.

Unless, of course, they faint.

–Ben Mandelker