Here's the thing we need to keep in mind, folks.....

The most important thing is to get a Democrat into the White House so we can start undoing 8 years of Republican mismanagement, mischief and malfeasance.

Either Hillary or Barack would make a fine president. But they are not equal in terms of electability. It's not at all certain that Hillary could beat McCain, or any other Republican. The level of hatred for Hillary and Bill has not diminished over the years, and in fact it's increased recently, following Hillary and Bill's nasty tactics in South Carolina. Hillary and Bill have reminded a lot of people of why they hated them during the '90s.

There is a solid 45% of the electorate who would not vote for Hillary under any circumstances. Not only would they not vote for her, they would make it a point to come out to vote AGAINST her.

And they'll bring a Hillary-hating friend. The Hillary haters are not just among the ranks of the Republicans; they include many independents and, after the nastiness in the early primaries they include a number of Democrats.

Obama, on the other hand, motivates and energizes people to come out and vote for him. He would capture many, many of those independent voters who might otherwise go for McCain.

Let's keep this in mind as we go through the rest of the primaries, folks. Hillary and Barack are both well qualified, but Hillary is only a 50-50 shot to beat McCain in a general election, whereas Obama would take that old man behind the woodshed and open up a can of Democratic Whoop-Ass on him.

Die-hard Hillary Clinton supporters will probably question any poll that puts their favored candidate in an unfavorable light, but this is from the New York Times:

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s ratings in the latest New York Times/CBS News poll suggest that unlike her Democratic rivals, her favorability ratings worsen as voters’ income and education levels increase. The poll also found that Mrs. Clinton was far better known than her opponents, but more than half of those who had an opinion of her had a negative one.

Over all, 42 percent of registered voters have an unfavorable view of Mrs. Clinton, 38 percent have a favorable opinion, and 21 percent do not yet have an opinion. That negative rating is far higher than it is for Senator Barack Obama (21 percent unfavorable) or former Senator John Edwards (28 percent). Indeed, Mrs. Clinton’s negative rating is close to the worst ever measured for her (46 percent) since The Times/CBS News poll began asking about her in 1992.

How many people....Republicans, independents, even Democrats....have you encountered who say they would never vote for Hillary under any circumstances? How many people have you met who say the Clintons represent the politics of partisanship and division? How many people have expressed the sentiment that they don't want Bill Clinton back in the White House with too much time on his hands?

Unless you only hang out at Hillary political rallies, the answer is probably, "Quite a few."

I will vote for Hillary if she is the Democratic nominee, but I have serious questions about her electability.

If the NBA had any relevance to anything at all, the news of Shaq moving from Miami to Phoenix would be BIG NEWS.

But the NBA is a meaningless exercise in which oversized, overly-skilled behemoths execute a nightly elephantine ballet that is little more than an exercise in meaningless perfection.

The NBA isn't a sport any more; it isn't even a game. It's a show; it's a product. It's like the Ice Capades; the performers are extremely skilled, but who cares?

The NBA had vitality during the '60s, '70s and '80s, when the Boston Celtics staged their titanic duels with the 76ers and the Lakers, and Larry Bird and Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan were in their prime.

But these days, the NBA is a dead man walking. Who cares? Shaquille O'Neal is just another rich soldier of fortune, stuffing the ball through the hoop with mind-numbing regularity.

When does the NCAA tournament start?

Let's face it, at this point all the momentum is on Obama's side. Hillary is desperately hoping the Clinton organization that has been in place for some time will enable her to keep pace with the Obama charge. Her desperation is palpable when you see her on TV, manically exhorting her followers to hold on......just hold on.....

Meanwhile, she's experiencing so much flop sweat she fogs up my TV screen every time she's on.

One can only imagine the chicanery and Machiavellian maneuvers the Clinton team is cooking up as they plan how to steer a brokered convention in Hillary's favor. Those disallowed Michigan and Florida delegates will receive more scrutiny in the months ahead than the hanging chads got in 2000.

We don't need to imagine how things were in Italy during the heyday of the Borgias. Hell, no. We've got the Clintons.

I agree with you that Hillary draws votes from Democratic core constituencies--women, Hispanics, liberals, etc.

But she isn't a big draw among independents; they are mostly going for Obama. And of course she's getting creamed in the African-American voting community.

If Hillary is eliminated as a candidate, Obama will still pick up votes from the core Democrat constituencies, plus he'll take many, many independent voters away from McCain. I've even heard that Obama is getting some cross-over Republican voters.

But if Obama is eliminated, the independent voters will not gravitate to Hillary in any significant numbers; they'll go to McCain. And that, I fear, may be the difference in the general election.