It was no pile-on

Was it just good old fashioned, go-for-the-jugular debating or unnecessarily rough political campaigning in which a bunch of male candidates ganged up on their lone female competitor, leaving her looking flustered and peevish?

That question continues to reverberate after last week's Democratic debate in which front-runner Hilary Clinton took rapid-fire challenges from some of her male opponents.

Former Vice Presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro thinks it was out-and-out sexism. "We can't let them do this in a presidential race," she said. "We have got to stand up. It's discrimination against her as a candidate because she's a woman."

Some political analysts say Ferraro's statement and Clinton's later appearance at a press conference wearing boxing gloves -- "Six guys against Hilary," said the man introducing her -- are calculated to win sympathy from female voters.

I think it's a stretch to read sexism into the "attack." The other candidates found a weakness they've been waiting to exploit, a sense that Clinton is too good of a politician, too able to walk alongside a messy issue without getting her feet dirty. They highlighted it. That's good debating in my book.