I know a few bloggers have questioned the value of an endorsement that takes shots at the candidate being endorsed, as the Las Vegas Review Journal does in its Obama endorsement today. But I still think it could help him. If for no other reason than that it completely lays into Hillary. It's like a widely-circulated piece of negative mail that is in no way traceable to your campaign.
As state Democrats prepare to hold their Saturday caucuses, cynical Republicans might well encourage them to choose Sen. Hillary Clinton, figuring her high "negatives" -- the unusual number of Americans who tell pollsters they'd never vote for her under any circumstances -- would virtually guarantee a GOP victory in the fall.
That's why it's a good thing for Democrats that freshman Illinois Sen. Barack Obama has managed to challenge the perception of Sen. Clinton's "inevitability."
The Clinton campaign cites Sen. Clinton's "experience." In fact, she's a one-term-plus-a-year senator whose lackluster legislative record rivals Sen. Obama's. Other than that, the "experience" in question must surely refer to her presence as a witness and enabler during her husband's presidential terms.
Suffice it to say there are dozens of issues that Americans happily dismissed as "water under the bridge" as the Clinton era came to a close, but which would quickly ensnare Sen. Clinton and her party in a presidential race that would soon look like a struggle to escape the La Brea tar pits.
For starters, imagine Sen. Clinton and "co-president" Bill Clinton invited onto a "This is Your Life" talk show where they're joined by Juanita Broaddrick, Kathleen Willey, Paula Jones, Gennifer Flowers and Monica Lewinsky.
And that's before we even get around to a HillaryCare plan that could have sent you to jail for offering to pay your doctor in cash to "get to the head of the line."
P.S. For what it's worth, Marc Ambinder says Democratic activist types don't hold the Review Journal in especially high regard.
P.P.S. Have you ever read a more snide and sarcastic newspaper editorial? Some parts read like they were written by a 16-year-old blogger. On second thought, maybe it'll rub Nevadans the wrong way and be completely useless to Obama...
Noam Scheiber