This, Kids, is What "Momentum" Looks Like

Clinton lead narrows in New Hampshire poll, sez Reuters. The difference between them is down to single digits: 35 to 29%, with Edwards at 17.

Somebody at Hillary HQ is losing their mind over this. If NH is a squeaker and she loses Iowa, it's a whole new ballgame.

Then again, it already is. If Hillary squeaks by in all three early states (Iowa, NH and SC), the main news story is going to be that "it's a race" and that Clinton's aura of inevitability has faded. That will be disastrous for her; that inevitability is the cornerstone of her campaign, as she neutralizes prospective opponents that are wary of being left on the outside of a prospective Clinton administration. She was as close to a sure thing as has ever existed in politics. Why get in her way?

Take that away, and she has to run on her record, and her merits. While those exceed the current officeholder, they sure aren't the weapon that inevitability was.