In a political season that has seen an unprecedented epidemic of candidate debates, the one tonight in Cleveland between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama may be most critical and revealing of her shifting campaign strategies.
The following Tuesday?s primaries in Ohio and Texas can revive Clinton?s candidacy or doom it. The former first lady must find a way to halt Obama?s 11-contest winning streak, which psychologically has given his campaign the aura of electability that once was attached to her own.
Obituaries on Clinton?s presidential ambitions are already being widely written. And even twin victories for her in Ohio and Texas are not likely to halt the crepe-hanging unless her margins are comparable to the drubbings he has been giving her, most recently in Wisconsin (58-40) and Virginia (63-35).
The Cleveland debate raises in political terms the riddle in the old fable: Who will come out the door, the lady or the tiger? Will Hillary Clinton pull in her oratorical claws as she did in last week?s debate in Austin? Or will she come out swinging in a high-risk effort to turn the tide against her front-running rival?
Any especially harsh comments about Obama from Clinton in Cleveland tonight will certainly draw comparisons in post-debate analyses with her Austin observation on being “honored” by sharing the platform with him. At this stage, she can ill-afford being cast again as a candidate of shifting tactics.
In Obama, the former firstlady faces a particularly challenging target as one who in debates so far has proved to be generally unflappable. She badly needs to throw him off his game somehow.
Jules Witcover has covered national affairs from Washington for more than 50 years and is the author of 11 books.
