The Republican Party has been given a gift with the sparring and fighting of Clinton and Obama. As they inflict wounds on each other's candidacy, Republican campaign strategists need only sit back and take notes as this battle provides free ammunition for the general election. However, the Republican attacks are now very mild and get far worse when the nominee is known.

Hillary Clinton has the reputation of destroying her enemies by any means at her disposal and she certainly shows that she is a fierce fighter. Recent calls for her to quit the race were rejected by Hillary, and who can blame her? The Democratic hierarchy basically turned away from Clinton when the Kennedy franchise chose to endorse Barack Obama.

Many of us have an ultra low opinion of Ted Kennedy's character and to some, his backing of Obama actually makes us wonder what Ted Kennedy was given in return? In my opinion, Hillary Clinton was right to stay in the race especially in view of the fact that neither she nor Obama can acquire the needed regular delegate votes to win the nomination.

Both Michigan and Florida will not redo the primaries and that leaves it all in the hands of the superdelegates, unless Michigan and Florida reconsider. That seems unlikely since Howard Dean has made it clear that they will have provide their own funds.

Obama is not above the mud slinging even though he would have us believe that he is 'above' the common politician. He spoke out vehemently against Don Imus when he made his racial remarks saying he would not tolerate anyone in his campaign who made those kinds of remarks.

Scarcely a year later, he was forced to acknowledge Jeremy Wright's anti-American and racially loaded words on the role of the U.S. deliberating spreading AIDs in the African American community. It was almost a year ago (April 2007) when Jeremy Wright told the New York Times that Obama might have to distance himself from Wright if he won the primary. It happened a little sooner than predicted, but we all know that Obama knew exactly what was in Wright's sermons.

Don't feel sorry for the Democrats though. Both candidates will be doing the same thing to John McCain as he's already started his general election campaigning. To date, they've distorted the '100 years in Iraq' to mean '100 years of war' comment. They're both bright enough to know McCain was talking about the same presence as the US has in Japan and other countries, but they're spinning it happily.

2008 is the year of the greatest show on earth. Each candidate will be doing all they can to defeat the opponent. This is politics and we must remember that good feelings, emotions, and blind faith can be a dangerous element in electing a president just as it can be in selecting a good church.

Recently, Howard Dean, Democratic Party Committee Chairman called for the race between the two candidates to be over soon saying it was hurting the party chances. Shall we toss a coin, let the voters decide, or force the superdelegates to take sides? It will be interesting to see.

Learn more about this author, Mona Gallagher.
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