Monday, January 7, 2008

Hillary down?

Here we go again with more post-Iowa analysis. Hillary's third place showing has folks from all over the spectrum writing her political obituary.

Drudge, this morning, headlines "TALK OF HILLARY EXIT ENGULFS CAMPAIGN !"

Rasmussen has Hillary ahead of Obama only 33%-29%, with Hillary down 8 points and Obama up 7 in a week's time.

CBSNEWS poll shows Obama 35%, Hillary 29% in New Hampshire.

Peter Wehner over at Contentions, posts the obit:

".....After she loses, Hillary Clinton will remain in the Senate, of course, and Bill Clinton will continue to make millions through his public speeches. They will not completely disappear from the national scene. But their days as a Democratic dynasty, and their center-stage role in American politics, are about to end."
(via PowerLine)

Is Hillary about done? No. She undoubtedly is a very polarizing person, and about as many dislike her as like her, but she has too much going for her to bow out at the first sign of trouble. I have to agree with Dick Morris (shudder!). His position is that she can withstand a few early primary losses because her strength lies in the larger states that vote later. For those that want this to be a quick process I can only tell you to get ready for one that is longer and more drawn out than recent elections have been.

What we will probably see is the Clintons going into full battle mode. The gloves will come off (pardon the metaphors), and we will begin to learn more about Obama than we really want to know. That is not all that bad. We actually know little about him.

This election year will give all of the pundits and press the opportunity to pontificate. But I don't think they are going to be able to stampede either party into naming a winner early. Democrats will surely make it into the Spring; Republicans may go all the way to the convention. It should be an interesting but frightening ride.

UPDATE: Riehl World View has similar thoughts:

"....The Clinton freight train rumbles on. If there's any real dirt, they'll chew, chew Obama up in the two weeks between NH and SC and we'll have a different race by Super Tuesday on February 5th......"

Go to the site.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

One more cycle in a deeply flawed election system that continues to allow states like Iowa and NH to have vastly unjust influence by the extremes of both parties in selecting the nominees. The only better idea I have heard than a system of rotating regional Presidential primaries is a college football play-off that might produce the REAL national champion! KMitch