Why do you think that the North Carolina republican party is running an attack ad against Senator Barack Obama and nothing against Clinton?  Why do you think Clinton remains in this race even though she, being the very smart woman that she is, realizes that there is no way that she can win this nomination without ripping the democratic party apart?  2012 is the answer to the second question.  By prolonging the race, Clinton helps out her self described “very good friend” John McCain get elected in the fall.  Given McCain’s age, and the current state of the union, it opens up the possibility for another Clinton White House in 2012.  As to the first question regarding the GOP attacks.  The GOP has much more material against Clinton than they do Obama, yet they decide to release two attack ads during a democratic primary.  The GOP continues to spout that they think Clinton will be the harder candidate to beat in a general election….yet they are running attack ads against Obama.  Why not let the candidate that you (GOP) allegedly perceive as the weaker opponent win the primary thereby making a GOP win in the fall much easier?  If I thought that the weaker opposing candidate was about to become my opponent in a general contest, I certainly would NOT put out attack ads against that weaker candidate so as to get the person I view as a stronger opponent nominated.  If I were the opposition, I would try and destroy the stronger candidate before he/she becomes my opponent in the general.  Think about it.  The GOP has issued two attack ads against Obama in a democratic PRIMARY!  Unprecedented!  And please do not drink the kool-aid suggesting that Clinton has been vetted and that the GOP does not have a war chest of Clinton ammunition that has been built up since the idea of Hillary Clinton as President first surfaced six years ago.  The GOP is salivating over the possibility of running against Clinton.  An email was sent last night from Rick Davis, chairman of the McCAIN campaign, pushing Clinton’s candidacy and talking up what a better candidate she is in comparison to Barack Obama.  Clinton is a tremendous fundraising tool for the republican party.  The GOP knows that a Clinton candidacy is a unifier like no other.  What also seems to be a new hot topic for main stream media is the fact that a larger percentage of Clinton than Obama supporters say that they will not vote for Obama in the general election but will instead vote for McCain.  HEY MEDIA!!!……it’s called posturing!  Given the way Hillary has run her campaign, are you surprised that her supporters will consider false threats as a tool in this race?  In other words, use fear to scare up your preferred result.  I very seriously doubt that when McCain puts all his cards on the table with respect to Iraq, the economy, education, etc., that few voters will actually vote McCain over Obama.  Especially for those whose only issue with Obama is that he is not Hillary Clinton.  Give me a break.  Has Obama run the U.S. into a ditch like the Bush policies…which McCain has pretty much vowed to continue?  Really, lets be honest…for democrats, the most important thing is getting a democrat into the White House.  Perhaps initially there will be anger and discontent among some disgruntled Hillary supporters…but I guarantee you that once the plans of Obama and McCain are laid side by side, democrats will have a clear choice.  Not to mention that Obama has played by the rules and won by the rules.  If Clinton were somehow to get the nomination, it would be through favoritism and a subsequent changing of the rules just to give Clinton the nomination.  How do you stay angry because your candidate did not illegitimately gain the nomination when the majority of the electorate legitimately voted for the other candidate?  Supporters may be angry for a second, but there is no sustainable basis for such anger.  The opposite can be said of Obama supporters if Obama were to be denied the nomination at this point.   A real test to the voting public’s resolve in demanding a different kind of politics will be whether it will reject the attacks of Clinton and the GOP attack machine as the distractions that they are intended to be.