The cult of personality is obvious as is the messianic fervor and hostility towards those who are not in the club. That is always dangerous.

I do like Paul Krugman but I don't agree with him on this point.

I was so surprised that experienced candidates like Biden or Dodd never got any traction --they barely registered any votes. But between the war votes and Kyl-Lieberman I was turned off to Hillary. But the real clincher was that interview with Katie Couric - when she insisted "I will be the nominee". That just solidified my doubts about Hillary- "It was almost like- "We will rule again!".

It time for Democrats to turn the page. Washington needs a total overhaul. This makes Obama seem like a fresh horse. And I think he will get the nomination in spite of all the Clinton wheeling and dealing and back room bargaining. It's very interesting to watch.

..someone who voted for war, voted to label the Iranian military as a terrorist organization, has a shaky labor record and put the rights of Sam Walton and family above the American people.

Moreover, we don't want someone who will surely lose to John McCain in a general election.

Just curious. Are you going to change your name when you start supporting McCain in the general election?

I always read Krugman. I am amazed that I am normally %100 in agreement with him. Up until now! I sent him an email in protest. As with all my emails, it will be a fruitless exercise. For 6 years I have been writing my congressman, Steny Hoyer, not very nicely, and have never received even an acknowledgment.

But Krugman is dead wrong on this issue. I find the Obama supporters on the web-sites I read and the comments in the newspapers and get the sense that the Obama supporters are truly enthused. I am also very enthusiastic. But hardly a cult! Hardly "Nixonland!" There are a few jerks, but when I come across one it just seems to prove to be the exception to the rule.

The Obama campaign, including Obama himself, is scrupulous in its honesty! Really and truly appealing in this day and age. I am going broke donating.

On the other hand, I totally agree with Frank Rich and his column clobbering the vicious tactics applied by the Clinton campaign. Truly Roveian! Truly Atwaterian! And the column is not leveled at the supporters, who I think are mostly feminists, from my readings of postings/comments.

But if you want to read truly nasty and vile comments, read the comments written by Clinton supporters in response to Rich's column in the NY Times.

The Times has a "Recommend" question after every post so you can vote as to whether it is a well-written, thought-out posting. The Clinton supporters go through and recommend every post that is favorable to Clinton even if it just says, "I like Hillary!" - 423 recommendations. "I like Obama!" - 2 recommendations. A bit of hyperbole, there.

Krugman is also wrong, as far as I'm concerned, about coalescing around the nominee. If it's Clinton, I am voting for McCain. Again, from my readings I am not alone.

I feel that if she is nominated, her war vote will destroy her. I knew the war was wrong when I was protesting in DC and getting stomped on by the police, while she was busy voting for the war. It will be the same-old, same-old back-room politics, and renting out of the Lincoln bedroom and more pardons for her cronies. Marc Rich revisited! And the lobbyists will dominate as they do now in the Bush administration.

Obama will surely be tested by the Rove/Atwater tactics of the Clinton campaign. Long live Frank Rich!

I haven't read all these loads and loads of comments and my comment is just added to this heaping pile.

I think Paul is desparately looking for a cabinet position in a Clinton presidency, or has been promised one. His irrational and unfair views about Obama are bordering on the comic. His "Cult of Personality" is a poor analogy. There have been good and bad cults of personality in our past leaders with FDR, JFK, Reagan, and, yes, Bill. Although, I would conjecture that the cult for Bill Clinton came from the Right. I have problems with W ever being a cult of personality and he and his handlers have tried very, very hard to place him there. Sure, it is difficult to place your faith in a person in such a way and, sure, I see it being done with Obama. It can be dangerous. Obama came on the Daily Show a while after the Dem Convention in 2004 and had a great comment for such a reaction, although I can't recall the exact wording he used, but he seems very grounded all the time and he tells people that he keeps people, his wife in particular, around him to keep him grounded.

Now, Paul, talk economics. Please don't get your emotions into this Democratic campaign because it will ruin you if you keep going this way.

Do you have a link to go with all that gossip?

You are awesome.

In other news, I have been having nightmares about a McCain-Huckabee ticket since Super Tuesday. Not actually hyperbole, there. You've thought of it too, I see. Not really needing a response, just campfire horror stories.

One of the ubiquitous Anonymous posters said, "I call shame on those out there in whatever camp who think that because the media says it is okay they can take low shots at Clinton without taking a closer look at who she is and what she stands for." Do you read the news Turns out Hillary's campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle (the one Hillary insisted upon, despite serious reservations from others in her campaign) failed to let her know that the campaign was out of money until just before the New Hamphshire primary. (Some sources say she lied about the money situation for a while, but whatever. We'll give her the benefit of the doubt and say she was incompetent instead of mendacious.) THEN Bill and Hill decided to "loan" the campaign $5 million, and told the folks running the campaign about it after the fact. They also brought in Maggie Williams as a "temporary helper" who was really the double-secret new campaign manager, until she finally threatened to leave unless they made her the campaign manager for realsies. Could it be they resisted this step because the campaign manager Solis Doyle is Hispanic, and they REALLY need the Hispanic vote in Texas?

This is the "experienced leader ready to be Commander in Chief from Day One."

Seems like who Hillary Clinton is, is an incompetent manager who can't even run her own campaign, and what she stands for is hiring the people who flatter her over the competent, then using passive-aggressive techniques to try and fix things. I loved Hillary as a First Lady and all but I still can't figure out what "experience" she has that qualifies her to be president. I know what a competent woman executive looks like--I live in a state with a popular and effective woman governor. Hillary is smart but she doesn't have what it takes.