When push comes to shove. I strongly suspect that the Republicans do NOT want to run against a woman for President - at least not one who can't easily be painted as too weak to protect America. Though some may take issue with how she's done it, Hillary Clinton long ago laid to rest any concerns that, as a women, she isn't strong enough to lead America. "Softness" is the first line of defense Republicans use against Democratic women running for Federal office. It dovetails with their effort to paint Democrats as the "Mommy Party ", used as a put down implying weakness. But that stereotype just does not stick on Hillary.

Women in America are not a minority group, they form a majority which has always been treated with tokenism in regards to leadership. It's not just the Presidency; the Supreme Court has a single female member, and never has had more than two. All women understand this, including Republican woman. Few of them will back Hillary simply because she's a woman, but the significance of her gender will not be lost to them. With Barack Obama in the race the importance of Hillary Clinton being the first female to run for President with a good chance of winning has been diluted by the same being true for an African American. But after the Democratic convention there will only be one Democratic nominee, and history will ride solely on her or his shoulders.

By and large Republican women are more moderate than Republican men, and the National Republican Party will have a needle to thread in attacking Hillary without seeming to assault her. They've crudely attacked her before of course, but this time will be different because this time, if Hillary is our nominee, she has a readily available platform 24 hours a day to defend herself immediately. If Clinton is the Democratic nominee they can't just "deaden her mike". A presidential campaign is not like the Rush Limbaugh show. They can't just land low blows against Hillary without being held to account for them. Republicans risk a strong backlash from moderate Republican and independent women if they try to savage Hillary Clinton too harshly.

Then there's this. The Presidency is ours to lose this year. The National Republican Party has been an 8 year disaster for America; from the war in Iraq, to massive budget deficits, to making no real progress on health care, to Katrina, to ruling over the debt and mortgage crisis, to sex scandals, to fiscal corruption, to moral hypocrisy of every stripe imaginable, etc etc etc. The only real way for us to be defeated is if we defeat ourselves.

Republicans have two cards to play and that is all. The first is the fear card that we live in a dangerous world - which they will certainly play regardless, and they will play it even harder should some new bomb go off in a British underground, let alone on a NYC Subway. Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden are the two candidates we could run who can best throw the Republican fear card in their face. The public is already predisposed to believe that Clinton and Biden are knowledgeable and tough. If either is our nominee the Republicans have much less to work with in that regard.

The only other real way for Republicans to win is if they go massively on a personal offensive against perceived weaknesses of the Democratic candidate, and that candidate proves ineffective at defending him or herself from Republican attacks. If the Democratic candidate can take a hard punch, either above or below the belt as the case may be, and punch right back as hard or harder, we win in November.

I have more reason to feel confident of Hillary Clinton's ability to pass that test than I do for any other Democrat running. They already spent over 50 million dollars investigating all aspects of Hillary's life with full subpoena power. What they might still find to throw at her now will not seem shocking, it will not seem fresh, and it will not seem as compelling as some brand new line of attack that can be trotted out against another Democrat running who hasn't been subject to that type of scrutiny yet.

Then there is that contrast between the last 8 years and the 8 years before them. The question has become a political classic; "Are you better off today than you were 8 years ago?" The answer for almost everyone is "NO". Who were in the White House 8 years ago? The Clintons. Which of our nominees can most powerfully pose that question? Hillary Clinton. It is simple and it will be a politically devastating line to use against the Republicans by Hillary because it is so simple and so clear.

Hillary Clinton's intelligence and familiarity with the nuances of many issues is immediately apparent. She may not come off warm enough to some but she never comes off as wooden, and her knowledge of the issues facing America gives her a commanding air of competency and assuredness. Americans don't have to love Hillary to elect her, they have to trust her ability to do the job and I think she scores quite well in that regard, better than most of our candidates - especially when one considers in the General Election it's not sniping from the left that a Democrat most has to contend with.

I have a friend from outside the realm of politics who last year was listed as one of the 5,000 wealthiest people in the world. No surprise here, he's a Republican, but he also is disgusted by the mess the Republican Party has made of America under George W. Bush. For most of 8 years I listened to him tell me how much he dislikes Hillary Clinton. Now though he admits she may be the only person running on either side with the intelligence and the toughness needed to understand the problems facing American and to tackle them. He still doesn't like her, he doesn't have to in order to respect and back her.

Hillary Clinton has huge name and identity recognition, and yes, some of that is negative. She's already been attacked for years; It won't be easy to move her negatives any further than they are already. But outside of New York State prior to this primary campaign, Hillary had far fewer opportunities to make her own case to voters than the Republican hit machine had to paint her as a witch for over 15 years. As the Democratic Candidate for President Hillary Clinton will get ample direct "face time" with voters who never looked closely at the real woman before. Many who initially tune into the upcoming Presidential race holding a falsely and garishly painted harsh image of Hillary Clinton will essentially be meeting her for the first time. Any surprises that a Hillary Clinton candidacy is likely to bring will almost all be to the upside. The same can't reasonably be said about any other Democrat running.

We will win the White House in 2008 with Hillary Clinton as our Candidate. She is our safest bet.