Clintons vs. Obama: How nasty can the campaign get?

The Associated Press

The Clintons are focused on recapturing the White House.

Featured Topic | Posted 43 weeks 1 day ago

Clintons vs. Obama: How nasty can the campaign get?

Democrats have always been good at battling other Democrats. That's never been truer than this year, with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama exchanging increasingly negative charges and countercharges -- and with the added complication of former President Bill Clinton charging into the fray.

Will the dustup strengthen or weaken the eventual Democratic nominee? And can that nominee unify the party after a fractious nomination battle?

Ben likes: The Bill and What's-her-name show

John Fund/WSJ-Hawaii Reporter

There's a reason that Clinton campaign handlers try to keep Bill Clinton away from reporters. He is liable to say the darndest things. One reason Mr. Clinton may be getting testy in South Carolina is a new Obama radio ad that directly challenges recent statements he has made about Mr. Obama's views on Ronald Reagan, the minimum wage and tax cuts. The 60-second ad rebuts the Clinton charges and concludes, "Hillary Clinton. She'll say anything and change nothing."

Joel likes: The Republican Democrat

Paul Waldman/The American Prospect

For the past few years, progressives have been saying that one of the most important things Democrats needed to do was to get tough. Republicans had been kicking sand in their faces too long, and the time had come to hit back just as hard.

But now the candidate who should be as familiar as anyone with "the Chicago way" -- given that he's actually from Chicago -- is on the receiving end of some less than polite politics, and more than a few progressives don't like what they're seeing. Barack Obama and his advisors did a lot of careful planning for this campaign, but there's one thing it doesn't seem they prepared for: Their main opponent, Hillary Clinton, is running like a Republican. And it appears to be working.