Niccolo Obama

I can't say I care and see no reason why public financing is somehow morally superior to hundreds of thousands of small donors. But if you want to see a Democrat prepared to take a short-term hit in order to score a real long-term advantage over his opponent, Obama's your man:

The upshot here is that Obama is going to have at least $100 million to spend that the RNC and John McCain and whatever 527s exist will not. Add in the Democrats' labor spending, and that advantage is probably at least $200 million. Financial disparities tend not to matter unless they are huge, and this year, they are huge. McCain will need all that much more of a moment in a debate, or a major Obama gaffe, to perservere.

David's dead right:

This guy is the whole Chicago package: an idealistic, lakefront liberal fronting a sharp-elbowed machine operator. He’s the only politician of our lifetime who is underestimated because he’s too intelligent. He speaks so calmly and polysyllabically that people fail to appreciate the Machiavellian ambition inside.

I never doubted his cunning or his charisma. It's the combo that's so lethal. Are the Republicans awake yet? The Clintons weren't.

(Photo: Brendan Smialowski/Getty.)