The junior Senator from New York makes it official on the eve of the Sunday shows (video here), forcing a pause in the Obama media freight train. She leads the latest ABC-WaPo poll, and will continue to crush the rest of the field in terms of fundraising, name I.D. and celebrity status.
Of course, nervous Nelly Dems will continue to quake and ask the question, "can she win?" They're worried about her polarization factor, the woman factor, and of course, the Clinton sex scandal factor. But here's the thing: everybody knows everything there probably is to know about the Clintons -- good and bad. Americans have already taken it into account. That means that Hillary can only do one of two things, when it comes to the non-traditional, general election audiences she needs to woo: she can either confirm their worst suspicions about her (that she's a social climbing shrew who let her hubby pork another woman and get away with it so she could fulfill her own, venemous and strangely male ambitions) ... or, she can pleasantly surprise them, the way she has done with Republican-leaning upstate New Yorkers and Republican members of the Senate. My bet is that Hillary has the discipline and the skills to do the latter. When people in the flyover states get a good, first hand look at her, I think most will say to themselves, "why she ain't so bad..." and compared to the nitwit in the Oval Office now, she's damned refreshing.
So can Hillary win? Of course she can. Presidential politics is about money, marketing and media control. She can raise more money than God, she has 100 percent first name-only name recognition, and as long as she doesn't make a mistake, she can deny the MSM the more obvious shots at her. And as for being polarizing, there is no single political figure more polarizing than President George W. Bush, and I think he won in 2004.
As for her challengers, Clinton may have to split the Black vote with Edwards and even more so with Obama (so long as most Blacks don't decide he isn't steeped enough in the old civil rights movement, ergo not "Black enough..." but she will retain the ability to win that audience back once she wins the primary -- and I think the odds right now favor her doing just that, with Obama and Edwards finishing a strong second and a less strong than expected third, respectively.
And then, if she faces Mr. Sellout, John McCain, I think she wins. If it's Mr. Fascist, Rudy Giuliani, it will be her job to redefine him as the Black man-hating, wife swapping authoritarian that he is. And then she beats him. And let's keep it real -- there are no other serious Republican candidates (sorry, Newt.)
Get ready to live under the rule of Mother (Nancy Pelosi) AND Mom, Republicans. It's gonna be a hell of a next ten years.
Update ... so, what do the Reds think? Here's one scintillating analysis (short version: Hillary steals the Sunday shows and manipulates the media... film at 11...)
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done = "No"
%>
Tell a friend
<%
Else
if request.form("done") = "Yes" then
'sets variables
dim email, sendmail
email = request.form("email")
Set sendmail = Server.CreateObject("CDONTS.NewMail")
'put the webmaster address here
sendmail.From = "webmaster@aspbasics.com"
'The mail is sent to the address entered in the previous page.
sendmail.To = email
'Enter the subject of your mail here
sendmail.Subject = "Check out this website"
'send a specific page or send a site url
dim url
'url = Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
url = "http://www.aspbasics.net"
'This is the content of the message.
sendmail.Body = "Site recommendation from a friend!" & _
vbCrlf & vbCrlf & "A friend has sent you this email and thought you would should check out this site." & _
vbCrlf & url & vbCrlf
'this sets mail priority.... 0=low 1=normal 2=high
sendmail.Importance = 1
sendmail.Send 'Send the email!
response.redirect Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
'Response.write ("Sent to ") & email
End if
End if
%>
"[T]he practice of arbitrary imprisonments, have been, in all ages, the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny.' Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 84, August, 1788
