Who's Your Dem Daddy?

A few days ago, a friend and political idealist sent a link to an NYT article saying that Hillary and Barack can only go down from here. And so who's on the rise? How about Bill?

Bill Richardson, that is, the sleeper governor from New Mexico who, from his obscure nook of the nation, can seemingly only go up.

And then there's Maureen Dowd's new column about meeting Mr. Clean Hope Obama in his office, wondering if he knows that campaigns are essentially about conflict.

So let's just see the candidates' left hooks and aggressive jabs, also the knock out punch. I want to see the knock out punch, not Dukakis in a tank, not Bill C's 'I feel your pain' claims to cool, not the closeted alpha male in Gore's closet, not Kerry's demure colonialist.

The candidate who's going to win each election is the one who saves the fight of their life for that campaign. Candidates just can't rest on the laurels of previous skirmishes. They've got to go at the Rovian World with all they've got and lay it on the line.

Gore and Kerry both could have done that, but it seems politeness, handlers, hesitation and some very visible second guessing cost them their political futures.

Show me the best fighter of the bunch, and that's the candidate to beat.

And I don't think it's a daddy this time at all. Maybe Mommy knows best. Not that she's a fun or favorite person, but Hillary might well have the timing and the nerve to deliver the knock out punch.