Is Hillary Worried?

Interesting story in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer by AP writer Marc Humbert. The opening line reads:

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is asking her backers to step up their donations, saying opponents of her 2006 re-election effort "will raise and spend hundreds of millions of dollars against me."

Could she be worried? Nah. This is a statement for the press. Once printed, it proves that she was "vigorously seeking re-election as a New York Senator". In fact, just a little further in the article, Mr. Humbert quotes from the letter sent by Senator Clinton:

"Your gift is essential to show my opponents that I have the support I need to win," she wrote.

How crazy is that? It probably should read, "Your gift is essential to show the press I CARE about New York".

Now, she can easily play this both ways. If she loses her re-election bid, then a letter goes out stating that folks didn't donate as they should've in 2006 and now in 2008 they need to step forward. If she is re-elected, she sends out another letter building on the momentum of the desperate cry of 2005. Brilliant!

Interestingly, Democratic strategist Hank Sheinkopf slipped up and gave away the secret:

Democratic strategist Hank Sheinkopf said Tuesday that Clinton is probably overstating her opponents' fund-raising capabilities for a Senate race.

"It's an attempt to get her core fund-raising base energized and prepared for what will be a very serious attack to stop her from being president," Sheinkopf added, a reference to polling that shows her as the front-runner for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.

But, here's where I have to disagree with Mr. Sheinkopf. He states Senator Clinton is the "front-runner". However, in a Fox News Opinion Dynamic poll released on Wednesday, October 5, a 2008 race between Condoleeza Rice and Hillary Clinton is a dead heat. Senator Clinton leads 46 to 43 which is well within the margin of error. Ask John Kerry about dead heat races. Also, 10 percent of Democrats say they'd vote for Condoleeza versus 8 percent of Republicans that would vote for Senator Clinton. Ouch...if that trend continues, that can't be good.