Look out for that mud!

It should be interesting to see how Hillary Clinton approaches tonight's debate with Barack Obama now that Obama is beating her like a redheaded stepchild in state after state after state. To add insult to injury, it was announced hours before the debate that Obama had beaten Clinton in the "Democrats Abroad" primary, in which - and this makes sense - Democrats living abroad can cast their ballots. When you start losing primaries that nobody's even heard of, it's going from bad to worse. I think it's a pretty safe bet than Clinton will "go negative," start slinging mud at Obama to see what will stick, despite the inherent danger that she'll get splattered in the process by a public opinion backlash. Polls show that a relatively high percentage of Democrats, people in her own party, have unfavorable opinions of her, and if she goes into desperation attack mode, that number is likely to rise. People just aren't buying into her standard arguments that she's the best one to slay the Republican dragon and that she's best prepared to be president from "day one." I think voters recognize that she's barely been in the Senate longer than Obama and that simply being Bill's wife doesn't really count as "experience." There's also the dynasty factor. There has been a Bush or Clinton in the White House, either as president or vice president, since January 1981, and voters may be saying enough's enough. They want somebody - anybody - different. So while Clinton keeps talking about her experience and credentials, Barack Obama, wisely, just keeps saying the word "change" over and over. I'm guessing that many people who support Obama don't have the foggiest idea what he stands for. They just know he's not a Bush or Clinton.