The back and forth bickering about Hillary prolonging the race and just how much it may set back the Dem cause is getting a bit tiresome. To be quite honest, I might be a bit more concerned if McCain was more of a stellar opponent, but he's not. Besides, with the media focused on the Obama/Hillary show, it sure isn't focused on McCain -- a good thing, right?

Meanwhile, I've heard it said that the Republicans would very much prefer to run against Hillary than Obama. Is there something to this? Perhaps. Three quick bullets come to mind:

1) The old Clinton "baggage" -- always an easy target for the right to take aim at. With Hillary running it would give them another chance to trot out the tired lies, to give new life to the supposed scandals, to remind the public about Monica, etc. etc. It wouldn't be the case with Mr. Squeaky Clean Obama.

2) The GOP wouldn't dare go after Obama's race. Yeah, I know, they stoop mighty low, but without Rove in the act and assuming McCain has at least retained some sense of dignity and limits, I'd like to think they won't go there. That said it's not too difficult to imagine the GOP would pull some sexist BS if Hillary was the pick, especially given Hillary's negatives with women.

3) A huge position of vulnerability for McCain is Iraq and Hillary would help to negate that juicy target for the Dems given her voting record. Hillary would not be able to credibly take it to McCain concerning Iraq, whereas Obama can open fire.

Other points I might be missing?