We need a sure thing, not a morality play

I definitely worry about the 2008 presidential race, especially with the virtual certainty the new prez will make several U.S. Supreme Court nominations. Frankly, I'm worried about Hillary getting the nomination -- not because I don't think she would not make a good president, or that a woman should not gain the lofty office. No, I truly think that she cannot win. Consider the following from today's "War Room" on Salon, which sums up what I have been feeling in my bones these days:

____________________________________________________________

Hillary and the e-word

From the "Tell Us Again Why This Isn't a Problem" Department, a new national Mason-Dixon Poll finds 52 percent of Americans saying they wouldn't even consider voting for Hillary Clinton for president.

"Hillary's carrying a lot of baggage," explains Mason-Dixon's Larry Harris. "She's the only one that has a majority who say they can't vote for her."

While the poll does have a four-point margin of error, the "would you even think about it" numbers for Clinton are starkly different than they are for most of the other major candidates or near-candidates. More than 60 percent of the poll's respondents said they'd think about voting for Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson or Michael Bloomberg; 60 percent said they'd consider voting for Barack Obama; 59 percent said they'd consider voting for John Edwards; 58 percent said they'd think about John McCain; 57 percent said they'd consider Joe Biden, the same percentage that said they'd consider Bill Richardson; 56 percent said they'd consider Mike Huckabee; and 54 percent said they'd consider Mitt Romney. By contrast, only 48 percent said they'd consider voting for Clinton.

More bad news for Team Hillary: At 39 percent favorable to 42 percent unfavorable, Clinton is the only candidate or near-candidate to have a net-unfavorable rating in the poll.

-- Tim Grieve

_______________________________________________________________

The situation reminds me of when I was a kid and we would choose up teams for sandlot baseball, muddy football, hoops, or whatever. Because I was a good athlete and a leader, I would usually get to be one of the captains and inevitably my schoolyard rival would be the other captain. Even then, I had an empathy streak, and I'd see some kids who were not that "jocky" just dying for approval but not believing that they would ever get picked until last, so once in a while I would pick them ahead of guys who were good jocks just to see their faces light up and to make me feel better about myself. But guess what? The result wasn't "Hoosiers" or "Remember the Titans" or "Rudy." Even though the less-gifted guys would try like hell and play their asses off, we'd still lose.

Dang it, I want the Dems to nominate somebody who can win! I'm not sure who that is, but I'm almost positive it isn't Senator Clinton.

~ Tom