Below The Beltway

Over at The Hill’s Pundit Blog, Ron Christie says we’re seeing the beginning of the end of Hillary Clinton’s Presidential campaign:

After strutting around the country as the inevitable nominee who had to deal with the nettlesome opponents who were merely prolonging the inevitable, Sen. Clinton (N.Y.) has begun to realize, perhaps too late, that citizens of Iowa and New Hampshire take their role as casting the first ballots in the race for president of the United States very seriously. So seriously, in fact, that they have started to punish the “inevitable” front-runner who was awaiting coronation by rewarding former Sen. John Edwards (N.C.) and current Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) with strong surges in the polls.

And now Sen. Clinton has decided to dig a bigger hole for herself by attacking the integrity and candor of Iowa caucus front-runner Obama. And Clinton is attacking a political candidate for his integrity and candor? As “Dandy” Don Meredith used to sing on “Monday Night Football” decades ago late in the fourth quarter: “Turn out the lights, the party’s over. All good things must come to an end.” Attacking Sen. Obama, a fresh face and generally positive campaigner, with the Clinton War Machine will remind voters once again why they have tired of Clintons posturing and preening at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Turn out the lights: After losing Iowa and New Hampshire, the Clinton party will be over for 2008.

The Washington Post reported on this apparent decision to go after Obama on character issues in today’s edition:

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa, Dec. 2 — With a new poll showing her losing ground in the Iowa caucus race, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) mounted a new, more aggressive attack against Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) on Sunday, raising direct questions about his character, challenging his integrity and forecasting a sharp debate over those subjects in the days ahead.

Clinton has hammered Obama recently over his health-care proposal, arguing that he is misleading voters because it omits millions of people and would not lower costs. But Sunday, in a dramatic shift, she made it clear that her goal is to challenge Obama not just on policy but also on one of his strongest selling points: his reputation for honesty.

“There’s a big difference between our courage and our convictions, what we believe and what we’re willing to fight for,” Clinton told reporters here. She said voters in Iowa will have a choice “between someone who talks the talk, and somebody who’s walked the walk.”

Asked directly whether she intended to raise questions about Obama’s character, she replied: “It’s beginning to look a lot like that.”

I’m not sure that I buy Christie’s prediction of the death of the campaign of the one person who we know has been running for President for at least the last four years. First as James Joyner points out, she has everything she needs to win the nomination despite the setbacks she suffered over the past weeks:

Hillary Clinton has all the tools she needs to recover, however. A ton of cash on hand to rebuild her standing with advertising buys. A formidable campaign organization. The discipline and experience that comes with years on the national scene. And, by the way, she still holds a 19 point lead in the national polls and a margin of 11.7 and 23 in the New Hampshire and Michigan primaries, respectively, over her nearest opponent. I wouldn’t write her off just yet.

The poll numbers in Iowa are so close together, and so inherently unpredictable, that an outright win by Clinton is easy to see happening. Similarly, while New Hampshire seems to be tightening for her, she still retains a lead there and in virtually every other early primary state.

Writing off a candidate with tens of millions of dollars in the bank, a well-organized campaign, and all the experience of the Clinton machine before a single vote has been cast is not only premature, it’s stupid.