Hillary as the Piñata

The Democratic debates are turning into an “everybody after Hillary” version of bumper cars. Barack announces that he will be going after her in a front-page New York Times Sunday story; Edwards has knives about as sharp as Giuliani’s; most of the others have also painted a bull’s-eye on her back.

And, of course, all the Republicans are virtually ignoring the remainder of the field of Democratic candidates and concentrating their fire on Hillary. Obviously, they believe that helps them among the hardened anti-Clinton(s) base. It is interesting, though, that if they think she is the candidate they most want to run against, why are they working so hard to tear her down? If “electability” is such an important ingredient in this year’s election cycle, why try and make her unelectable among Democratic primary voters? Could the Republicans fear Hillary a lot more than they are letting on?

As for the Democrats’ strategy of all going after Hillary, one has to wonder how smart this really is for them. It seems to me that if Obama or Edwards is going to win Iowa, they are going to have to take votes away from the other Democrats. Their likelihood of pulling votes away from Hillary with an all-out attack is pretty slim. And by being strictly attack dogs, they risk losing some of their own support — witness John Edwards’s latest standing in the Iowa polls. Plus, there is nothing unique or different about joining in on the gang-up against Clinton. One might argue that if she handles these attacks deftly, she may, in fact, be helped by the perception of unfair piling-on.

The candidate with a real chance of winning against Hillary Clinton needs to establish himself as more than a sniper — and demonstrate differences with the other candidates. My guess is that as all the bumper cars try and converge on Hillary, the one that goes zipping by in the outside lane might just draw some attention. Actually, there may not be such a candidate in this race.

I thought Edwards might end up as that kind of candidate, but his continuing “lobbyist” charge, as he has accepted $600,000 from the healthcare industry and millions from the trial-lawyer lobby, is backfiring in Iowa, New Hampshire and everywhere else he is trying it.

My guess is that Hillary as the piñata these next two months will actually strengthen her candidacy, not weaken it, and that “desperation Democrats” will be left by the wayside.