Twenty years ago, the accusation of plagiarism against Joe Biden drove him from the Presidential race. This happened even though he credited the source in every speech but one — the one that was videotaped by the Dukakis campaign. It was treated as a big deal.

How does this translate to 2008? Making the issue larger is that Sen. Obama’s rhetoric is part of his story. The Clinton campaign would like to make this seem artificial.

Obama argues that he and his friend Deval Patrick often traded ideas and lines. The Plank argues that Obama has cited his friend in the past and this is a desperate move by Clinton.

The Stump claims that every candidate is using ideas from everyone else. There are only so many things to say about an issue, and people jump on lines that resonate. Speech writers remember and use themes from past gigs.

Nonetheless, the Obama segment, partly because it shares common quotations, seem much more parallel than the cited Clinton references.

Plagiarism is a strong word. Even in academic and literary circles there have been many ambiguous cases in recent years. The standards for candidates are, no doubt, different than for writers and students — a lot looser, and different from what they were twenty years ago.

Those trying to make much of this have even cited Obama and Robin Williams or Obama and someone with a trademark on “Change Rocks.”

In a tough race, this sort of campaigning must be expected. It will be interesting to see the reactions of voters and super-delegates.