Hillary's Finish

The media is starting to write the Hillary obit this morning which I think is a mistake, even if my spouse weren't working for the junior senator from New York. First, who knows what will happen tonight? Second, New Hampshire has a way of reversing the Iowa results so she could lose here but come back stronger in the Granite State. Granted, there's less time to do that but it's certainly possible. If she loses both Iowa and New Hampshire, then she needs a way to stay alive until Feb. 5 when 22 states vote and she has a better shot at picking up delegates. Nevada on january 19 bodes better for her than South Carolina on the 23rd. But either way she's obviously in a lot of trouble if she gets whooped tonight and limps out of New Hampshire.

Her rally last night at the Historical Society in Des Moines shows her staying power. It was a big crowd with lots of people in AFSCME green. There were good optics with former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack and Rep. Leonard Boswell on stage with her along with, of course, Bill and Chelsea. Her stump speech isn't bad although there are some oddly dated touchstones in her choices of metaphors and music. Dolly Parton's "9 to 5" seems a tad dated as did Bachman Turner Overdrive's "Takin' Care of Business" and references to "putting a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth" are ancient history to most folks--although I guess not to Iowa caucus goers. The moon landing was 39 years ago. Kennedy's speech about the moon where he used the "safely return" language was in May 1961--almost 47 years ago.

Incidentally, there's an excellent piece on Why Obama is No JFK in the new Washington Monthly.