On one hand, I've never seen the general public as excited about a primary election as they are this year, and much of this can be attributed directly to the Obama-Clinton competition. So, from this perspective, the Clinton-Obama competition is good for the Democratic Party. On the other hand, John McCain is able to save his campaign cash + efforts for the General Election, and watch while each of his potential opponents spends more time beating up on the other than on him. So, from this perspective, the Clinton-Obama competition is bad for the Democratic Party.

The question, obviously, is whether the good of the increased interest is more than the bad caused by the two Dems bloodying each other. Only history will tell for sure on this one. The main problem for the Dems is that, inexplicably, many rank-and-file Dems + independents view McCain, a man w/an 83% rating from the American Conservative Union, as some sort of moderate or even a liberal. The truth is that he's a down-the-line neo-conservative Republican, anti-choice on abortion rights, pro-tax cuts for the richest Americans, pro-100-years-in-Iraq on the war, etc. The risk is that the intra-party sniping caused by the Clinton-Obama fight will cause enough people to defect to McCain to give us another 4 (or 8) years of GOP misrule. And that's even before you factor in that the GOP will almost certainly do its best to steal its 3rd consecutive Presidential election. The Supreme Court of Indiana's effective Poll Tax is yet another hint of what will be done to deny the will of the American people again.

-Z