When Hillary was a convenient no-show for the telecom immunity vote, she became toast to me. When she recently accused Obama of plagiarism and the audience booed, she might have then become toast, period. The "charge" was so obviously baseless and transparently desperate that she should have retracted it as soon as she said it. Her desire to win at all costs has not risen to anywhere near Rovian heights in terms of the use of lies and slime, but it appears to be heading in that direction. Needless to say, for shame.

What is most obvious at this point is Hillary has managed to repeat the screw-ups and strategic missteps of her husband's former VP in his run for office. Both she and Gore are terrific candidates who put together extremely flawed campaigns.

At least Gore had the excuse of Bill's baggage and going up against the beyond-the-pale tactics of Rove -- Hillary has no such easy outs, but rather just inept planning and the hubris in believing she was easily going to take the nomination, no problem.

Oh well, if she fails in her quest she has only herself to blame.