hwc notes that the biggest winner of yesterday's Republican debate was... Hillary!

I think it is more than fair to say that our girl Hillary has well and truly gotten in the heads of the angry white men in the Republican party.  She has them in a full-blown tizzie and that is the best thing that could ever happen for Democratic Party chances in November 2008. Why?

I would suggest three reasons:

1. By attacking her every waking moment of every waking day, the Republicans are providing a blueprint for their fall campaigns. Penn, Wolfson, and Bill will take this playbook and use it to prepare a brutal gameplan to counter every strike. Even more, the Republicans outlined positions against Social Security, health care, and reployment from Iraq that are wildly unpopular with the electorate. The red-meat audience boo'd Ron Paul for saying he would pull troops out of Iraq.

2. Their efforts to demonize Hillary won't work. If Hillary Clinton is anything on the campaign trail, it's disciplined, focuses, serious, competent, and prepared.  When voters see her, on TV or in person, they may or may not like her. They may or may not support her. But, they don't see some wild, crazy monster. Thus the opposite. It is Romney and Rudy who appear to be frothing at the mouth when they speak of Hillary.

3. I keep saying this, but gender is the overriding dynamic in the 2008  election. 54% of the voters are women and the majority of those support Hillary Clinton and the idea of a history-making election. There is an emotional attachment to the election the first female President and this emotion will become even stronger once Hillary is the nominee. These angry white men attacking the female candidate, not on policy issues, but like crazy abusive husbands is going to trigger a deeply emotional response. Not just among women, but among other groups who have felt the wrath of what Bill O'Reilly calls "the traditional white male power structure". The two Republican front-runners, Rudy and Mitt, are already at the point of "pulling a Lazio" and alienating wide swaths of American voters. They think they can use attacks on Hillary to energize their base, but their attacks are actually more likely to energize women voters (54% of the electorate), African American voters, Latino/a voters, Asian American voters, gay voters, and so on and so forth.

For those who didn't follow Hillary's 2000 Senate race in NY, "pulling a Lazio" means aggressively walking across the stage during the most-watched debate to thrust some piece of paper in Hillary's face. While former Rep. Rick Lazio was seen as someone who could unite the anti-Hillary vote (both male and female) to beat her, his assault on Hillary's "space" turned all the undecided women into Hillary supporters.

So yesterday's debate raises a fascinating question: could Hillary make Republicans so blind with rage that their collective heads explode, taking the entire Republican Party with them?