Not "electability" again.

Please. But Hillary's making the pitch…

"I know what Gingrich tells people privately, I know what DeLay tells people privately, I know what Karl Rove tells people privately. I'm the one person they are most afraid of. Bill and I have beaten them before and we will again."

I'm not sure what anyone tells anyone privately. If I were, well, it wouldn't be private, would it? I do know that it's no secret that Republican pols and fundraisers wave the Clinton name like the bloody flag, though, openly and to apparent productive effect. A few on the left do, to. I'm not sure, though, how that particular brand of notoriety translates into electability.

I'm not saying that the elusive electability is never a proper subject for consideration, though it is never a sufficient one. In this cycle, though, Democrats are blessed with multiple tiers of fully qualified, fully electable candidates. Who among the first tier of GOP hopefuls could match credentials with so-called "second tier" Governor/Ambassador/Congressman Richardson? Which of the first tier Republics has the national security chops of "second tier" candidate Wes Clark? Or "second tier" candidate Joe Biden, for that matter. Chris Dodd ain't chopped liver, and we still haven't looked at Hillary's presumed companions in the first tier, Edwards and Obama.

No, this time around we can take the electability card off the table. We have a surplus of electable choices, just as the Republicans have an embarrassing surfeit of the same. This time we can take the time to make the best choice. That may be the heart of the argument against recent moves to front load the candidate selection process. I think there's great benefit in having as many of our distinguished voices raised in contrast to the pathetic bleatings of our opponents as we can for as long as possible.

And for the record, I don't think Karl was much of a player for Poppy (who fired him) or Dole, but Gingrich and DeLay? Let's get real, they kicked Bill Clinton's butt from pillar to post. They stole the Congress for over a decade and impeached him for gawdsake. Beaten them before? Get real.