Hillary Clinton Dives In: Barack Obama Forces Move

Hillary Clinton is squirming.  No it's not that Monica Lewinsky is not back in town, it's something far worse.  The junior senator from New York is concerned with the junior senator from Illinois.  Senator Barack Obama treaded onto Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s home turf over the weekend to meet with prominent Democratic donors and feel out those who might prefer the sound of President Obama to President Clinton (as in Hillary, not Bill).

Hillary Clinton Dives In: Barack Obama Forces Move

Both senators have said they are considering a presidential bid, but neither has formally announced a run nor formed an exploratory committee to officially test the waters. Obama, who met earlier yesterday with potential donors in Gotham, will appear in New Hampshire, an early primary state, on Sunday, while Hillary is reaching out to party leaders in New York to line up support for her own bid.

This is all a bit of a drag for Hillary as her plan appeared to be to wait around while the old media drooled over her like she was an intern during a government shutdown.

But while Hillary was getting all dolled up in her shiny blue dry-cleaned dress, Barack Obama crashed the party, and decided that he will begin to explore running as well.

That sent shockwaves through team Clinton as they struggled to not look desperate, but now she really has no choice but to begin her run.  On Monday Hillary hired a national fundraising director and a senior campaign spokesman.

Phil Singer, a veteran of Sen. John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign who most recently was spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, will join the Clinton communications team, her senior adviser Howard Wolfson said in the statement.

Let's get one thing straight, Hillary Clinton is running.  Here's the reason she is frightened.  A CNN poll taken two weeks ago showed the New York senator favored by 33 percent of people asked who they were "most likely to support for the Democratic nomination for president in the year 2008."

Clinton was ranked first among 10 potential Democratic candidates. Second place for "likely" support was a statistical tie among Illinois Sen. Barack Obama (15 percent); former Vice President Al Gore (14 percent), who ran for president in 2000; and John Edwards (14 percent), John Kerry's running mate in 2004.

Hillary understands that Gore is an absolute crackpot that can't win even a Democratic Primary but this Obama guy may spell trouble.  So she's off and running and pundits on the left, right and everywhere in between are hoping she does. 

In the Internet age, the Clintons won't have the freedom they enjoyed in 1992 when Bill Clinton ran.  It won't just be Star Magazine reporting on the Clinton's every move they make will be documented scrutinized and placed online and then on air..

So - can Hillary be elected with that many eyes upon her?  Some Democrats still believe the odds are against her actually being elected president. Dick Harpootlian, a former chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party not aligned with any presidential hopeful, is among the naysayers.

“She’s a senator, she’d be the first woman running, and she’s Hillary Clinton,” he said. “All of that is almost insurmountable for a general election.”

He added: “There are people who would write a check and die for her, but there are plenty of others who wouldn’t vote for her if she promised to eliminate the income tax and give free ice cream to everyone. People have made up their minds about her, and that doesn’t give her much room to maneuver.”

Of course most of this is just PR from Camp Clinton as she understands now she must run while tempering expectations.  Not to be outdone Obama quickly stroked Hillary's fragile ego while addressing her 'electability issues. 

"I have the utmost respect for Hillary Clinton," the Illinois senator told reporters after a speech at a children's charity benefit in Midtown. He added: "I think she is tough. I think she is disciplined. I think she is smart. I am not one of those people who believe that she can't win. I think she could win if she ran, and she is an extraordinarily able person." 

Can America stand twenty months of Hillary running for office?  Probably not and Clinton knows this and would have liked to have waited and be anointed as the savior.  But with Obama dishing that America wants to dismiss politicians like Hillary and the voters are "waiting for a different approach to politics and a different approach to governing, she is stuck between an intern and a DNA sample.

The Democratic candidate who offers "alternatives based on common sense, pragmatism, and cooperation" will serve the party well in 2008, Obama concluded.

That doesn't sound like Hillary, her husband or their baggage.