One thing kept going through my mind during Monday night’s debate slugfest; “the Republicans will love this”. Hillary and Barack may have lowered the chances of a Democratic president this year with their little back and forth jabs:

A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll asked voters who has the personality and leadership qualities to be president. Republican John McCain had 60 percent, Democrat Barack Obama had 59 percent and Democrat Hillary Clinton had 55 percent.

“The presidential race now looks like a toss-up — perhaps even with a Republican edge,” Paul Starr, co-editor of the liberal American Prospect magazine, wrote in The Washington Post on Sunday. “If Democrats don’t stay smart, tough-minded and realistic, we could blow it yet again.”

Make no mistake – John McCain will be the hardest Republican to beat. He has also handled attacks aimed at him very well, giving him an extra boost.

Part of the problem between Hillary and Obama is something we have never experienced in American politics before – a candidate having an ex-President for a spouse. That makes the most powerful surrogate any candidate could wish for. When Bill says something about Obama the media eats it up. If Michelle says something about Hillary it’s not heard by the media. This fight would be best left to surrogates, if it must be fought at all, but the media must give equal time to each side. They need to loose their love of Bill and show equal love to Michelle or another surrogate on the Obama campaign. If that doesn’t happen then Bill needs to stop feeding the media and go back to work on Africa.