this time, I think the men are going after a frontrunner and they seem to be doing so on issues and not with vicious personal smears. She’s the one with the burden, rightly or wrongly, of showing that a woman can be commander in chief of one of the world’s hegemons. Will she whine that France and Russia are picking on her if they veto U.N. resolutions? Is she entitled to a break because she’s a woman, or just a level field?

she gets a lot of props from my Dem. party campaign friends who say she’s going all the way. I’m not sure. The first Iowa caucus votes aren’t for another 70 days. That’s a long time in a 24-hour news cycle political world. If I were reading polls, I’d look for who is the second choice of the voters who presently back 2d tier guys like Richardson, Biden, and maybe especially first tier Edwards. If Hillary and Edwards get into a piss fight that Hill wins, that might be the worst thing that could happen to her if it sends a lot of his supporters to Obama. By the time we’re finished with Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, the field will shrink and the question is who will benefit the most from voters making a second choice. I’m thinking a lot of Chris Dodd goes to Kucinich with another fair bit to Obama. Richardson is running for vice president and will try to hold his mostly insider troops for Hillary, I’m guessing. Edwards has some southern support that I think is cringing at having to pick between a woman and a black man. Who knows where they will go? Joe Biden is also running for Veep and/or Secretary of State and has been a grown up about issues and an idiot about national campaigning. His support is eastern intellectual elite. the upper east side kind of voter who drinks at the bar where Woody plays his clarinet. too few to care where they go.

As between the ads, Hillary’s is the better, but still a loser in my opinion.

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