Notes on the Democratic Campaign Trail

Robert Novak views Hillary Clinton as having an advantage over Obama leading into the Feb. 5 deluge of 22 or 23 primaries, but also sees that advantage as being unstable. That's about right.

There's some talk today about Barak Obama and affirmative action. Sunday on ABC, Obama stated that his own kids are so incredibly advantaged that he does not believe they need further assistance from affirmative action to get into Harvard. No big issue there. For the record, I'm a strong supporter of affirmative action for African-Americans and would like to see more of it in business and government as well as academics. I'd also like to see more affirmative action for women, Appalachians, and poor people. One of the things I've learned at Morehead State is just how talented people in impoverished areas are. Not being born into privilege like George Bush, they should start getting extra legs up as they begin their college education and professional lives. That would go a long way toward equalizing equal opportunity.

Hillary's Looks. A comment I made on Bill and Hillary's looks drew some sneers at Protein Wisdom. Given the misogynistic weeniness that's so pervasive on the right, it's hard to take anything they say about any woman very seriously. But, Hillary Clinton is a pretty attractive 60 year old woman. She's certainly a hell of a lot better looking as a 60 year old woman than Fred Thompson is as a 65 year old guy.

Hillary Smearing. If Hillary Clinton is the Democratic nominee, there's going to be lots of smear campaigns. That point was brought home today when legendary Republican smear artist Roger Stone announced a 527 group entitled "Citizens United Not Timid" devoted to attacking Hillary Clinton. I'm sure everybody understands the misogynistic slur intended there by Stone, but my guess is that this kind of bigotry will move a lot of women to support Hillary as a way to stand up for gender. Maybe Stone should crawl back under his rock.