First Jeannine Pirro
flamed out in spectacular fashion. Now, Nixon son-in-law and well-known lawyer Edward Cox has taken one look at the sheer and unforgiving rockface that is Mount Hillary, and decided to
leave the climb to others:
Cox said in a statement issued Thursday that "after careful consideration of the circumstances and conditions as they exist surrounding the race, including the now shortened time frame available to run an aggressive and effective campaign, I will not seek my party's nomination."
This will disappoint some Republicans, who thought Cox would have been an effective candidate, and could damage Hillary enough to hurt her chances in '08.
I know Hillary is not the most popular Democratic pol on this site. But let's look at her strengths for a moment. She may be the most disciplined politician Democrats have to offer.
After winning the New York Senate seat, she adopted a clear strategy for herself -- move to the center on national security issues, speak moderately about abortion, pornography, and teen sex in order to appeal to cultural conservatives, and stay a true-blue liberal on economic issues, including health care.
You may not like that strategy, but you can't dispute that she has stuck to it with the tenacity of an olympic athlete, and has even persuaded the traditional media to play along. As a result, she is looking INVINCIBLE in 2006 (which will free up DSCC resources for elsewhere, and improve our chances of retaking the Senate), and is a front-runner for the Democratic nomination in 2008.
I happen to think she'll be an effective Presidential candidate in 2008. Her extraordinary discipline will be an asset. She won't "chase the rabbit," over-responding every day to the latest crisis of the moment, but will rather adopt a simple strategy to position herself for victory, and stick to it through thick and thin. That's a strategy that can win, and that's what Hillary Clinton is all about.