I think Hillary Rodham Clinton is who scares them.

I also think she'll be our next president.

ps. Living in the reddest of red states, I base this on what I hear. I've never heard a single Republican talk about John Edwards, but Hillary bashing is a constant.

I did inhale.

Probably...

The Coultergeist and Little LuLu, oh my.

... is that the smear campaign is both strategy and opportunity, not to put too fine a point on it.

In the broader sense I agree Edwards is whom they are afraid.

Let me get my cynic hat on straight. Hillary and Obama each come with built-in assailable, highly vulnerable characteristics. Remember how low these ppl stoop and you get my obvious point.

Large swaths of the electorate will simply not vote them for reasons buried deep within their lizard brains. I suspect the thinking is that when appealed to in the right manner --read: smeared with racial or misogynistic overtones-- the RNC Rove Bots believe many more can be swayed to not vote for Obama or Hillary who otherwise might do so in a weakened, BushCo weary state of mind. Thus, the natural early target to hit the hardest would be Edwards. Reserving much ammunition, the expensive (markers and money) heavy artillery, for the last battle once he's gone.

Then we have the natural hit squads of opportunistic enmity. Certain pundits and opinion makers already have their battle axes out. Hilliary has history with a lot of these folks so she attracts their attention most, by my reading.

This is all anecdotal, you understand. I don't track smear campaigns. But if I were 'strategizing' against a field of opponents in a two stage protracted war of attrition, I would recognize that it is Edwards who would need the long term bashing because he has fewer natural enemies, and essentially all the potential of the other two to hurt long term Republican goals.

Hillary is Hillary, and simply will not get a sympathetic touch from the press, period. Tough, knowlegable, and a machine to back her up, she will still endure a long term shellacking without much organized help.

Barak is a neophyte, as likely to self-immolate as to sustain the long hard run standing upright and looking good. Hillary is currently running harder against Obama then Edwards. They see that as a good thing I'll bet.

Edwards is a populist with a message that scores. He's smart, been there before, young and handsome, and came through his last campaign with nary a scratch. He's nearly everything the Right wishes they had, except for the politics. Nail him.

Just my two cents, expensed.