The Clintons Are Uniters, Not Dividers

You know you must have run a bad campaign when both Karl Rove and former NY Times editor Howell Raines agree:

Karl Rove is a whipping boy for the Left and former New York Times editor Howell Raines has recently become a whipping boy for the Right.

So when the two of them go head to head, you can expect some fireworks.

Such was the case Tuesday night at a panel discussion sponsored by The Week magazine.

"The Clinton campaign has run a very negative campaign," said Raines. "They have constantly -- but in a very subtle way -- had people remind the public that [Sen. Barack Obama] is black." Howell later said that the "best thing [Sen. Hillary Clinton] has going for her" is the fact that Obama is consistently stigmatized by the fact that "if you're a black candidate, you have to apologize for every stupid thing ever said by any black person."

No small accusation by Raines, and even Rove had to agree that Sen. Clinton has run a poor campaign.

"She has run a horrific campaign," said Rove. "It has been astonishingly bad. ... [Obama] has strategically always run a better campaign than she has tactically."

I doubt that you could get those two guys to agree on much of anything else.