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There's something about a large white house... Anybody but Hillary?By Rick Horowitz You're a Democratic candidate for president and you're crisscrossing the country pressing the flesh and eating cold chicken (except for the times when you start imagining it's the other way around), and your days are an endless chain of fundraising calls and strategy meetings, of pasty-faced drop-ins on "Daybreak Dubuque" or "Nashua Nitely" or whatever they happen to call it in that particular town, and as you finish your appointed rounds and stagger into yet another motel room and onto yet another saggy/soggy mattress, the thought may occur to you as you drift off to sleep: What's the point? What's the point, that is, of putting yourself through all of it, doing everything you can to try to break out of the pack (and a pack is certainly what it is, or maybe a gaggle -- certainly not a pride), when a month ago the polls were saying that two-thirds of the American people couldn't name a single one of you and by now it's probably up to three-quarters, and when -- Here's the point. -- and when even if you were somehow to do it, were somehow to get traction and build momentum and ride the wave, even if you were somehow to become the Democratic nominee for president of the United States, you're still toast. That's not the technical term, but you get the picture. Who cares if you're the nominee? There's no way you're going to beat the big guy on the other side, is there? And it's not as if a valiant effort in a losing cause will give you a leg up for the next time around. Democrats don't believe in next times around anymore; you lose, and they bury you. Besides -- Besides. Hillary Clinton is already running for the 2008 nomination. Of course she is. Isn't she all over TV saying she has no "plans" to run in 2008, no "intentions"? What more do you need to know? She absolutely rules out running in 2004 (and doesn't that tell you what she thinks the 2004 nomination is worth?), but about 2008, she merely says she has no "plans," no "intentions." Anyway, it wouldn't be sporting for her to say right now that she's running in 2008 because that would be pretty much admitting that the Democratic candidate this time around is going to lose, which nearly everyone believes, but it still wouldn't be sporting, and if there's one thing Hillary wants to be -- or at least look -- as she tries to charm all those millions of skeptics out there who at the moment would rather walk barefoot across broken glass than ever vote for her, it's sporting. And that's your chance to pull off the upset of the ages. Winning the 2004 nomination? That's for you to figure out. (I can't do everything!) But winning the 2004 election? That's simple. You run against Hillary Clinton. Seriously. Once you're the Democratic nominee, you'll already have the Democrats on your side; they're not going to vote for George Bush. But you're still not going to win unless you can attract lots of independents and even a few Republicans -- or for that matter, lots of Republicans and even a few independents. And the best way to do that? Think broken glass. You convince them you're the only thing standing between Hillary Clinton and the White House. Seriously. If Bush wins re-election in 2004, there's no incumbent for Hillary to have to defeat in 2008. She takes the Democratic nomination and she's got a decent shot at going all the way. Republicans may think they can beat her -- but what if they're wrong? Are they willing to take that chance? But if they elect you in 2004, then there will be an incumbent -- an incumbent from Hillary's own party, no less -- and she'd be boxed in. Or out. Whatever. But you're a Democrat, you're saying! True enough: But you're not Hillary. Would Republicans be willing to toss George Bush aside? Here's the thing: It wouldn't have to be permanent; he could run again in 2008. People are used to having a President Bush in the White House and then somebody who's not a President Bush, and then a President Bush in the White House and then... You get the picture. And it wouldn't
be Hillary's.
Rick's got even more to say about Hillary... Posted
6/13/03. Make Rick your
party animal twice every week!
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Rick Horowitz
