Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Clinton and costs

I've long argued that Clinton will do anything to win this primary, even if it hurts her party's overall chances in the general. What I hadn't thought of, which I heard argued this morning, is that it's perhaps even true that if she's confident she's going to lose the primary it makes sense for her to swing even harder to ensure that the Republicans win the general.

If Barack wins the general then Clinton is finished. She won't get the chance to run in 2012 and she probably won't get the chance to run ever again. If he loses, though, then she can try again in 4 years. She can't come out and campaign for or endorse McCain because then she would be clearly going against her party, but she can do things like run campaign ads stating that she's stronger than Barack on an issue where McCain clearly trounces both of them (like, say, national security) in the hopes that the voters remember that when it comes time for the general.

1 comment:

Chris said...

Interesting theory. The scorched earth politics that seem to be going on have definitely made me reconsider whether the republicans can realistically win this year. It definitely seems to me that the longer this goes on, the better things look for McCain.