Presidential politics just might be my favorite spectator sport. And the Democrat league, like the AFL, is inevitably where you'll find the most action. Damn I love the Democrats.

I hope you've heard about the latest Clinton-Bomber skirmish. It's a sure sign of the even worse backbiting to come.

The latest row was sparked by music mogul and former Clinton toady David Geffen, now a Bomber groupie, whose comments were a knife in the back of Mrs. Clinton. He said:

Everybody in politics lies, but they [the Clintons] do it with such ease, it's troubling.

The gossip passed around by those who follow Hollywood and politics holds that Geffen fell out with Bill Clinton much later over the then-president's refusal to pardon Leonard Peltier and over Clinton's subsequent allusion to Geffen's thwarted lobbying effort to demonstrate that he didn't dole out pardons as favors to certain friends.

At a candidate forum in Nevada today, Hillary played the "politics of personal destruction" card, which I think Bill invented:

I sure don't want Democrats or supporters of Democrats to be engaging in the politics of personal destruction.

I'm fascinated by Bronco Bomber. If I was a liberal, I'd totally jump on his bandwagon, and not just because I love making fun of his name. He's got a lot of strengths. He's very personable and yes, I hear he's articulate and clean too. I think we all want a candidate who bathes regularly, regardless of our party affiliation.

I'm not yet convinced however, that Bronco Bomber is not this season's Howard Dean. Being a media darling means nothing to the Iowa caucusers. Serious political junkies have to admit that raising a ton of money means nothing if your organization doesn't know how to use it.

People like David Geffen may represent the vocal face of the Democratic party. But they don't represent the majority of voting Democrats, who are more centrist than the press corps realizes. That's why Dean came in third in Iowa last time, even though the media kept treating him like he was the front runner. Rank and file Democrats were rightly suspicious of Dean's electability, and they went for the safer bet, John Kerry. The trouble was, they didn't inspect the goods well enough before switching to Kerry, and they got burned.

Not that I place much stock in the "Hawkeye Cauci," as Rush calls it. I don't. New Hampshire has always been a more reliable indicator of party preference, historically. And Bronco Bomber is no Howard Dean; they don't share the same negatives. That's good for Bronco. Unfortunately his poll numbers are not in a range where he should be getting the kind of press he's getting right now. The latest polls have him losing to Hillary by an average of 18.2 points. That's a lot of ground to make up, even for a media darling.

For now, Bomber's just not a credible challenger, though I love watching him make Hillary sweat.

Posted by: annika at 08:13 PM | Comments (14) | Add Comment
Post contains 558 words, total size 4 kb.

1 Pretty well said, I'd only add the simplification that Bronco is a lightweight. He's running for veep, so he'd better play nice with Dykarella.

Posted by: Casca at February 21, 2007 09:33 PM (2gORp)

2 Kære Annika, vær så venlig, slutt ikke journalen din!

Posted by: Arik at February 21, 2007 11:20 PM (bACRg)

3 i think someone just called me a slutt?

Posted by: annika at February 21, 2007 11:53 PM (JBltT)

4 Worse than that, an icky slut journalist.

Posted by: Casca at February 22, 2007 07:30 AM (Y7t14)

5 I once knew an executive who had tremendous enthusiasm and competitiveness, but little content. She was always talking about her big plans to kick competitive ass, but never was able to identify quite what these plans *were*. I hadn't thought about her for years, but Obama reminded me of her...

Posted by: david foster at February 22, 2007 12:58 PM (ZD/CA)

6 Selv om jeres imødegå er på dansk , jeg mene jer forstod mig besked

Posted by: Arik at February 22, 2007 04:22 PM (bACRg)

7 For all the talk of the primaries being dominated by the extremes of the political parties, it's interesting to note that the Democrats have nominated both Carter and Bill Clinton, who are more centrist than others in the party. Hard to tell whether Obama is this cycle's Howard Dean. Or perhaps Hillary is this cycle's Ted Kennedy (the anointed heir who doesn't get the crown).

Posted by: Ontario Emperor at February 22, 2007 05:53 PM (GT9eg)

8 Hey, Arik: I need some help with the Ikea catalog.***My 16-year-old daughter suggested the other day that Barak Obama might be the Anti-Christ. We'll just have to keep an eye on him, won't we?

Posted by: Joules at February 22, 2007 06:30 PM (u4CYb)

9 Hey Annie, this is a great idea for a money making web site. Icky Journalist Sluts web cam!

Posted by: kyle8 at February 22, 2007 07:22 PM (z86sf)

10 Annie, you aren't icky, but the web cam is a great idea. Think how exciting it will be to watch you studying for the Bar later in the year!

Posted by: shelly at February 24, 2007 08:49 AM (SLFj+)

11 > People like David Geffen may represent the vocal face of the Democratic party. But they don't represent the majority of voting Democrats, who are more centrist than the press corps realizes. Interesting observation. Most of the reader comments I see on these pages would suggest otherwise. Of course, Gorbachev once thought that the US was populated primarily by Nazis and drug addicts, because the news sources he focused on told him just that. It's unfortunate that Tom Vilsack left the race, as he was one of the few voices of moderation in the Dem candidate list (though too far back in the pack in name-recognition and funding). Of course, that strengthens McCain's and Guliani's positions as centrists and makes a Republican ticket more likely to succeed. I'd be happy with either of the two, as they are both reasonably rational and have the ability to reach across the aisle.

Posted by: will at February 26, 2007 06:34 AM (z62e3)

12 Well Will, hopefully one of them will win, but why reach over the aisle??? The Dems sure don't reach for anything other than the money in our pockets...

Posted by: Arik at February 27, 2007 05:15 PM (bACRg)

13 "I'm a uniter, not a divider"...

Posted by: will at February 28, 2007 02:49 PM (z62e3)

14 Hey there! I randomly stumbled upon your blog out of Yahoo. Your content is filled with interesting info, and I will probably use it at some point in my career. Keep up the excellent work!

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