This Politico article got a lot of attention this weekend.
Leave it to the Politico, a site by political junkies for political junkies, to take an unvarnished look at the state of the race (no, not that kind of race) for the Democratic nomination for president.
Here's the lead:
One big fact has largely been lost in the recent coverage of the Democratic presidential race: Hillary Rodham Clinton has virtually no chance of winning.The article goes on to burst the bubble of political junkies everywhere who dream of that most intriguing of political showdowns -- a convention floor fight -- by laying out the sad truth:
People who think that scenario is even remotely likely are living on another planet.And just in case you didn't get it before, there's this:
In other words: The notion of the Democratic contest being a dramatic cliffhanger is a game of make-believe.Clintonistas couldn't have seen this article as helpful.
Or could they?
Notice that the article quotes several people close to the campaign: advisers, strategists, fundraisers, etc. These folks, wrapped in the cloak of anonymity (don't even get me started on that one), take the electability argument that we are going to hear a lot of in the coming weeks and months out for a test drive without having to publicly embarrass the Junior Senator from New York. In effect, they can keep up the facade of a tight contest for voters while whispering reality in the ears of the press.
In HillaryWorld, where little to nothing happens without being polled, tweaked, polled again and focus-grouped, don't put it past the campaign to have actually set those interviews up.
Because, after all, you can't reap the harvest of general-election reservation without sewing a few seeds of suitability doubt.
