Hillary's Turn

For a few brief shining moments, Hillary stopped running in the general election and threw some punches at the Democrats sharing the stage with her.

She spent days in debate prep, and clearly her team decided it was time to get out of her defensive crouch. Before, I had the impression that Clinton felt she would be descending from her lofty perch if she bothered to beat up on Obama and Edwards.

At last night's CNN faceoff in Las Vegas, Hillary chided Obama for a health care plan that would leave 15 million Americans without insurance--not exactly a low blow, but not pattycake, either. (Obama fumed about Hillary's "mandates" but couldn't deny that his proposal would cover fewer people.)

Minutes later, when Edwards rattled off what he sees as Hillary's heresies (not ending the war fast enough, supporting Bush, Cheney and the neocons on Iran), Hillary accused him of "throwing mud." (Wasn't his criticism as issue-based as her swipe at Barack?) And, for good measure, she charged Edwards with flip-flopping by noting he wasn't for universal health care back in '04.

My sense is that after two weeks of bad press about waffling and planted questions, Hillary and her brain trust decided it was time to put some points on the board rather than playing for a tie. In other words, she's got a huge lead (except in Iowa), but sitting on a lead is not always the best campaign strategy.

A few other points: Hillary triangulated away from her husband in conceding that "NAFTA was a mistake to the extent it did not deliver what we hoped it would." She had no effective response, after accusing Obama of wanting to hit the middle class with a huge Social Security tax hike, when he said only 6 percent of Americans make more than the $97,000 level where the tax is now capped. And none of the Democrats asked (Hillary wasn't) would concede that the surge is making progress in Iraq, except for Obama allowing that it "is making a difference in certain neighborhoods."

Obama, by the way, seemed flat, and inexplicably seemed to bobble the driver's license question that tripped up Hillary last time.

I freely concede, though, that more people will be talking about the Barry Bonds indictment this morning.

"Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton stepped down from her front-runner's pedestal and hit back at her Democratic rivals Thursday night in a feisty debate that drew out differences over immigration, foreign policy and the proper tone of an increasingly harsh campaign," says the L.A. Times.

"The Democratic candidates for president had hardly stepped on stage for their debate here Thursday night when the political insults started dropping faster than Flying Elvises," says the Chicago Tribune.

"Hillary Clinton swung back at her two main rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination last night, rebuking them for changing their positions on healthcare and portraying herself as the most experienced and qualified candidate for her party's nomination," says the Boston Globe.

"Hillary Clinton took off the gloves and hit her chief Democratic rivals hard and often Thursday night, knocking them back on their heels," says the New York Daily News.