Whomp

Is it too early to say that the wheels are starting to come off of the Hillary Clinton Presidential campaign?

He just ran the table today with four-count 'em-four big wins over Clinton:

- Louisiana Primary by 21 points (57%-36%)
- Nebraska Caucus by 36 points (68%-32%)
- Washington Caucus by 37 points (68%-31%)
- Virgin Islands Caucus with 90% of the vote

Maine is up tomorrow, and one wonders how it will look if he wins there. Does it neutralize her win in neighboring New Hampshire?

From the Daily Telegraph, the very definition of campaign erosion:

A senior Democrat who has discussed Clinton campaign thinking with a member of her inner circle said: "The Clintons are in a state of panic. She has to win both Texas and Ohio."

But he added that this might prove impossible if Mr Obama maintains his momentum and wins most, or all, of the nine contests which come before that.

Bizarrely enough, in the same article:

The Clinton camp hopes to stop the Obama bandwagon by winning Texas and Ohio primaries on March 4, after which Mrs Clinton is planning to call on party grandees including Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives and Harry Reid, the party's leader in the Senate, to persuade Mr Obama to stand down.

Clinton aides have privately admitted that Mr Obama would only consider such a move if offered the position of vice presidential running mate, something Mrs Clinton has always been reluctant to consider.

Is this furious spin or wishful thinking? Is there anything remotely scientific about it? Is it arrogance? Look, the race is far from over, but she may be lucky to get an offer from him for the Veep slot.

Sure, she raised a boatload of money this past week after learning from Obama how to do it (again the follower), but what's she running on today -- David Shuster's wrongful comment about how she and Bill are deploying their daughter Chelsea?

So they get Shuster suspended, he apologizes twice, but in trying to extend it in the news cycle they overplay their hand. It comes off as playing the pity card again, and ultimately Americans hate whiners almost as much as we love winners.

The longer she stays in the race playing the way she has -- or is it "they have"? -- the more the exposure to the types of exposes that can damage her post-candidacy much as Rudy Giuliani may be facing.

There's two articles today: Frank Rich tying together how the Clintons have played the vile race card over and over this campaign as well as how she transparently plants questions in supposedly open "town hall" audiences (Bush lite); and Thomas Edsall, spurred by the questions raised by her admission of a $5 million campaign self-loan, digging a little deeper into how the Clintons have made boatloads of money off politics -- and influence:

Other of the Clinton's income sources are far more difficult to ascertain -- for instance, the flow of cash from billionaire investor Ron Burkle and his Yucaipa companies.

In each of Senator Clinton's past four disclosure statements - 2003-2006 -- there is a line item that reveals only that Bill Clinton received "guaranteed payments to partner" of "over $1,000" from Burkle's Yucaipa.

The disclosure forms do not explain what the guarantee is, and they leave to the imagination how much over $1,000 the annual amounts are. President Clinton, according to news accounts, has helped Burkle in his business dealings...

...The purpose in hiring Bill Clinton is to use the connections he had made as President to gain access and to make lucrative deals -- a commonplace but controversial practice regarding former officeholders, a practice with little or no public support - and the money made from these activities in the Clintons' case becomes part of Bill and Hillary's jointly held assets, according to Senator Clinton's communications director.

In other words, money from Yucaipa and the interests it deals with - running the gamut from public employee pension funds to supermarket chains to the Dubai Investment Group - is directly benefiting Hillary Clinton, an incumbent politician charged with voting on issues crucially important to the profits of Yucaipa, its clients, partners and investors.

Clintons...money...political favors...

Do I hear water running?