Madame President?

The endless campaign, in my view, could wind up helping Hillary Clinton.

Put aside all the other questions about her record, her divisive image, Bill's role, the alternating Bush-Clinton dynasties. There remains one immutable fact, the reason why John Edwards (lamely) made fun of her coral jacket: she is a woman. (Or what Post columnist Ruth Marcus calls a "person of cleavage.") And in that capacity, she would break the ultimate glass ceiling.

That's where the length of the campaign comes in. With most people thinking Hillary is the inevitable Democratic nominee--and believing as well that the Dems are more likely to capture the White House this time around--we have plenty of time to get used to the idea of HRC as commander-in-chief. After awhile, it no longer seems so foreign. If she stays ahead in the polls, she almost starts to feel like an incumbent. So by the time the actual voting starts, the notion of a female president is practically old news, factored into the stock price, as Wall Street would say.

(The same might be said about Barack Obama--the better we get to know him, the more many voters are going to think of him like Tiger Woods, meaning that race isn't the first thing that comes to mind. But with Obama trailing in the polls, he seems less like a probable president at this ridiculously early stage.)

Suddenly, though, a new factor is being trotted out: Hillary can only succeed if other women on television succeed. I'm not sure what that's got to do with a presidential race, but consider this Hollywood Reporter piece:

"Cherry Jones has been appointed president on the upcoming season of '24,' sources said . . . Their decision to go for it adds another wrinkle to the closely watched Democratic Party's presidential race, in which Hillary Clinton is the frontrunner."

And the Politico makes the tie even more explicit:

"The ratings of both the struggling 'CBS Evening News' and the now-canceled ABC drama 'Commander in Chief' call into question one of the premises of Clinton's political strategy: that women are eager to reward role models who break down gender barriers. On TV, at least, it hasn't happened."

Isn't this nothing but stereotyping? If viewers don't like Katie Couric as an anchor, they are more likely to blow off Hillary Clinton as a candidate? Can you imagine that being said about, say, a Hispanic anchor and Bill Richardson? An Italian-American actor and Rudy Giuliani? I'm not buying.

Okay, time for a serious story:

"The House Judiciary Committee voted along party lines on Wednesday to hold President Bush's chief of staff and the former White House counsel in contempt of Congress," reports the New York Times.

"The issue now goes before the full House, where the Democrats who control the chamber suggested it would not be taken up until after the August recess."