Slouching Towards Tuesday

The good news, two days before Super Tuesday, is that Mitt Romney is falling way behind John McCain in the polls. The bad news is that John McCain is ahead. Never has a plague on both their houses – and on Mike Huckabee’s too – been more needful.

On the Democratic side, the Kennedys are piling it on: now even Ethel has come out for Obama. Still, the polls suggest that Clinton is a bit ahead nationally and in some key states. My hope is that the two of them annihilate one another, leading the party to call on a genuinely progressive candidate. But since that isn’t going to happen, there’s nothing to do but hope that the Rorschach Man (Obama) continues to gain “the Big Mo” (as in Poppy Doc Bush speak) over McCain Lite (Bill Clinton’s better half). “Lesser evilists of all states voting on Tuesday – unite. You have a scourge to lose.”

Meanwhile, it is being reported that Bill Clinton will watch the Super Bowl in New Mexico with Bill Richardson, and that the Clintons are wooing him hard. They could offer him the Vice Presidency in return for a timely endorsement; something Obama can’t do since an African-American/Latino ticket would be too much even for “post-racial” America. A Richardson endorsement of Clinton would set back Obama’s efforts to increase his Latino support. That could hurt him, especially in California, Arizona and New Mexico and perhaps even in New York. Richardson might figure he has nothing to lose – not even his virginity, having already done yeoman’s duty for the Slickster in the UN and in the Department of Energy. He would lose one thing, however, though it probably isn’t foremost in his mind: he’d drop from second to third in my ranking of the original seven Democratic contenders.