The Clinton TKO

Watching Hillary last night I was reminded of why I liked her - smart, tough, and knowing just what she has to do to win. Others have commented that the lesson of Bush II is that one more electoral vote than the other guy is all that matters to get the keys to the car (this is exactly why I refuuse to rule out Mitt until everything is fully over). It's only after you get there that you should worry about building the grand coalition.

Hillary knows better than anyone that everytime "angry" and "Obama" are in the same sentence she wins (and there it was in the first graf above the fold in the Post). One of my favorite lines of hers was along the lines of 'I agree we should be running a positive and hopeful campaign, unfortunately you change the meaning and tone of your statements whenever someone asks you about them'. Flip flop with a twist.

More importantly, last night she finally managed to bridge the gap with Edwards. He had been hounding her non stop before last night. Yet she did a great job reframing questions from the moderators to force Obama to say things she knew that Edwards couldn't let fly by. Check out the health care question - she set Obama up to try to say mandates/universality aren't necessary, and he was totally off guard when Edwards fired back.

The point is, we are long past the time when either can KO the other, but Obama keeps wildly throwing haymakers while Clinton slowly dismantles him.

And I should add that for those who are scared to death of GI John McCain I have two words - Jim Webb. Beware the Huck!