Can She Be Stopped? Probably.

While I certainly respect the Podhoretz theory, I think the Hillary-is-inevitable theory is pretty weak, and, in fact, easily defeated, as Jonathon Chait amply demonstrates. Added to this, of course, is the wonderful absurdity that Obama is polling better amongst women than Hillary, while Hillary is polling better amongst blacks than Obama. And although I find Ross's theory, in which Gore flies in, Han Solo style, to steal the nomination after Obama, Edwards, and Hillary all prove unpalatable, somewhat plausible, the idea that Edwards might actually beat Obama and Hillary is, as Ross notes, pretty far fetched. So who's it going to be for the Dems? Perhaps this will forever prohibit me any future chance at entry into the swanky pundit clubs, but I just don't think it's useful to speculate at this point. In six months, maybe. In ten months, absolutely. But for now, the whole thing is just a glorious spectacle of wonk and punditry--and I plan to sit back and enjoy every bit of it. Repeat after me: ten months is a long time.