Patrick Ruffini twittered “So, who prompted that reporter to first ask Harold Wolfson about HRC self-funding?” and maybe it was the antibiotics or the ear infection but I laid awake last night with those words rolling around in my head. If the whole “down and out Wednesday” for the Clinton camp was just a clever marketing stunt it probably worked. With that said, it doesn’t make a whole lot of long-term sense, does it?

Right now you have two candidates who are doing everything they can not to be the frontrunner and I find that astounding. Every Democrat wants to be an underdog and live out their Rocky Balboa moment. Doesn’t anyone want to be the winner and just roll with it? Even Clinton, who ran a campaign of inevitability, would never actually say it leading up to Iowa. Why not? Just say, “yeah, I am awesome and am going to cream these people” instead of pretending like Dennis Kucinich is your equal on stage.

John McCain is cut from this same cloth. I remember him coming out to the Star Wars theme on Leno in 2000 and after Super Tuesday it seemed to almost pain him to announce he was the frontrunner. I have read the endless articles about his superstitious side but I think it goes beyond that. He is a man who has always wanted to be the maverick underdog, the guy who triumphs over adversity and all that.

Frankly someone needs to tell all of these candidates it feels good to be a winner. Take a page from Bill Clinton, declare yourself the winner before the vote is in and move on. During the recount mess of 2000 the moment I knew George W. Bush was going to be the winner was the moment he acted like he was. Al Gore was running around saying, “maybe he is the winner, maybe I am the winner, lets have a recount and see”. George was busy assembling a cabinet and writing “thank you” letters.

Take a page from Mel Brooks and say, “it’s good to be the King”. If you really think you are winning, enjoy it and if you don’t think you are winning then the rest of us will probably feel the same way.

Happening Out There

- Congress and the President hit all time lows. So both parties have a lot of good will to run on. Bush also hit all-time low with Republicans ahead of his CPAC speech.

- Speaking of the Bush CPAC speech he will signal his support for McCain by speaking of the Senators “strong conservative” side. Not exactly an endorsement by Ayn Rand but it’s something.

- Paul Kane of the Washington Post explains why it is now “basically mathematically impossible for either Clinton or Obama to win the nomination through the regular voting process while Red State crunches the Democratic numbers to give an outlook on the delegate possibilities for the convention.

- We have stimulus in the House & Senate now heading to the president

- Hillary brought in $6 Million, Obama $7 Million in the last couple days. McCain in comparison brought in that much for only the entire month of January. We will see if his new frontrunner status helps.

- More details in the Republican Committee scandal.

- James Dobson will come out for Huckabee who says he is not quitting but who has almost no mathematical chance. Best shot is to play Buchanan to McCain’s Bush.

Where they are

- Clinton, Town Halls in Washington

- McCain, Town Hall in Virginia and an appearance in Washington

- Obama, rally in Washington