GOP's Cole: Obama Would Be Better For My Charges

Once again, the top Republican House strategist has said publicly that Hillary Clinton would be the tougher Democrat for his charges to run against in the fall, and Obama would be the weaker candidate. The question imposes itself: why on earth would Tom Cole admit this? A large crowd will assume that he is attempting a fumbling Jiujitsu move by luring the Democrats into a false sense of remorse about almost nominating Obama because Obama, in fact, would be the more difficult candidate. Indeed, Democratic superdelegates might actually pay attention to what Tom Cole says. Or he could be telling the truth. I suspect that the actual difference in drag between Clinton, once nominated, and Obama, once nominated, would be fairly minimal, perhaps only a few knots' worth of headwind. In any event, the Democrats are likely to pick up House seats, so even assuming that Cole is telling the truth, what we're debating here is the size of the Democratic margin over Republicans.