That’s what some Republicans are beginning to fear:
What many conservatives regard as the nightmare scenario — President Hillary Rodham Clinton — is increasingly seen by veteran Republican politicians and strategists as virtual inevitability.
In GOP circles, the Democratic front-runner is seen as so strong, and the political climate for Republicans so hostile, that many influential voices — including current and former lawmakers, and veterans of President Bush’s campaigns — have grown despairing. These partisans describe a political equivalent of the stages of grief, starting with denial, then resentment and ending with acceptance.
For now, these Republicans say the party needs good luck, including a change of fortune in Iraq, and a revival of organization and leadership in the conservative movement to avert another Clinton presidency.
“If the conservative movement and Republicans don’t understand how massive the Clinton coalition is, she will be the next president,” former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said in an interview last week, after giving a private talk to GOP lawmakers. Clinton will win, he added, “if we don’t use everything available to us and motivate our base, the people that believe in us.”
What the Republicans need is a candidate that can win. Looking at the current field, I don’t see anyone who meets that criteria outside of Rudy Giuliani.
