I was at the Campaign Spot a little bit ago. One of Jim’s posts was particularly interesting. It seems Hillary is making one or more of McCain’s people a little nervous. That’s not to say that they aren’t completely convinced McCain will beat either candidate, because they are. However, Hillary, much like McCain himself, has shown that she can fight back hard and effectively from near political death:
One of my McCain guys told me recently, “Hillary’s starting to scare me.” It’s not a matter of thinking she’s unbeatable, obviously; all of Team McCain likes their chances. It’s that she was all-but-declared dead a month ago, having lost nine straight contests in two weeks, and with her back absolutely against the wall… and now she’s had three impressive big wins, and appears on the verge of two more effective victories (winning Indiana and beating the spread in North Carolina). She’s had great photo ops, is handling Bill O’Reilly like he’s a pussycat, tore Obama apart in the debate, and is making her opponent look evasive by demanding more. Team Obama can brag about their continuing delegate lead, but there’s no doubt who’s been running the more effective campaign for the past two months or so.
Even if she doesn’t win the nomination, political strategists will be studying her comeback for years to come.
I am watching with great curiosity what’s happening with this race. Hillary simply will not back down or accept defeat, although recently she looks like she may not have to accept defeat. Obama still looks like he’s going to be the nominee, but she is going to do what she can to make the process as difficult on him as possible, which is an odd thing considering they are supposed to be on the same team. At little while back, Rich Lowry argued that Hillary’s softening Obama up for McCain. It appears to me her motivation for doing this is so that, once McCain destroys Obama in the general election, she can sit back and allow the leaders of the Democratic party to come slouching back to her to beg her forgiveness for ever doubting her and her candidacy. Once the dust settles, Hillary could end up politically stronger than ever. That is, if she can manage this without destroying her party first.
