Text: The 1996 near miss allows them to ignore the uglier facts of 2000: that Lamar faces a stronger field and has lower poll numbers.
Entailment: Lamar faces a stronger field and has lower poll numbers; the 1996 near miss allows them to ignore such ugly facts of 2000.
Contradiction: They are not able to ignore the uglier facts of 2000, due to the 1996 hit.