Hillary's Moment

Slate has a history of weeping.

Turning now to the Republicans: I've talked to plenty of smart people who think John McCain has a good shot at the nomination if he beats Mitt Romney today. That could give him an Iowa-like boost heading into Michigan and South Carolina. If McCain falls short, it's harder to figure out which state he wins in the near future.

If he pulls it out, the media will go nuts, at least for a couple of days. Journalists are poised to write the McCain Comeback Story. In fact, some of them are already doing it. The guy upsets Bush in 2000, comes back eight years later as the front-runner, his campaign implodes, he claws his way back by holding 101 town-hall meetings and snatches victory from the jaws of defeat. Plus, he lets reporters interrogate him on his bus all day and night.

And the Romney Comeback Story, where the dogged businessman-turned-politician gets off the Iowa canvas and battles back in the state next door to where he governed? Not so much.

Reporters don't seem very interested in writing that story. Maybe Romney should get a bus.

I'll tell you one thing: This race is getting real personal real fast.

Don't take my word for it. Ask John Dickerson:

"Mitt Romney's rivals don't just disagree with him. They don't like him. At all. Saturday night at the ABC/Facebook debate almost every candidate took a dig at him. It was not the behavior of pygmies trying to tear down Goliath but of hyenas trying to finish off a wounded wildebeest. Many of the barbs were on the topic of Romney's many position changes, his central liability with voters. When Romney said to Mike Hucakbee 'Don't try to characterize my position,' Huckabee shot back: 'which one.' McCain cracked wise several times most effectively (because it'll be replayed on cable a lot) after Romney gave his pitch that he was the change candidate, McCain smiled and said 'Governor Romney, we disagree on a lot of issues, but I agree you are the candidate of change.'

"Romney, who trails McCain in New Hampshire, tried to stay above the fray, rebuking McCain for what he called personal attacks, but it probably didn't undo the fact that no one was giving him any respect. There were moments when Romney sounded like a man in complete control of the facts but I'm not sure those moments of high competence--which he's displayed in previous debates--are that effective in putting the authenticity questions to rest. They haven't so far . . .

"Why the Republican candidates appear to have such issues with Mitt Romney is not exactly clear. The collective animosity goes beyond what would be merely necessary based on the political need to knock him out of the race. Is it Romney's money or that he is using it to fund so many ads knocking against his opponents? Is it his looks? They all see Romney as an opportunist and a phony and we got a chance to see just how much that bugs them."

That's not the least of it, says National Review's Byron York:

"If you think things got a bit testy between John McCain and Mitt Romney during the ABC News debate here at St. Anselm College Saturday night, you didn't see the half of it. After the debate, when top campaign aides and surrogates came to the Spin Room to tout their candidates' performances, members of the Romney and McCain camps said the things their bosses might have been thinking but did not dare utter onstage.