Barack Star

This is going to be So Much Fun. Say what you will about the downsides of a Hillary Clinton v. Barack Obama smack-down; it has already delivered a shot of adrenaline to the oh-so-jaded journalists who cover--and shape--the presidential election season.Case in point: Last Wednesday, almost by accident, I found myself with a front-row seat for Hillary's press conference about her recent jaunt to Iraq/ Afghanistan/Pakistan with Indiana Senator Evan Bayh and New York Representative John McHugh. The Senate TV studio was a zoo. In drooling anticipation of the senator's arrival, a couple hundred reporters crammed together tighter than a can full of Pringles, with many more hovering just beyond the door, prompting multiple Hill veterans to marvel at how they had never, ever seen the place so crazy--not even during impeachment. Just think about that for a moment: Even before announcing her presidential plans, Hillary was already drawing bigger crowds than Bill did after getting busted playing hide-the-cigar with Monica. Now that is star power. As the mob continued to swell, the head of the gallery began freaking out and demanding order--threatening not to allow any senators into the room until the assembled group could behave itself. Cameramen, sweating profusely, crawled over one another in search of a clear shot. Outlying journalists began elbowing their way in. Someone cracked a joke about the fire marshal, and, for a few uneasy moments, my mind strayed to the annual news reports of Muslim pilgrims being trampled to death during the hajj. Then, suddenly, there she was, resplendent in a long, red jacket, black slacks, and sensible pumps. The whir of 10,000 camera shutters clicking simultaneously could be heard all the way down Pennsylvania Avenue in the Oval Office (metaphorically, if not literally). With the formal, almost regal bearing that I suspect she'll need to play down on the campaign trail, Hillary crossed the dais first, stepping past the podium to allow Bayh to handle all the how-do-you-dos and here's-what-we'll-be-talking-abouts. With his eternally polite, scrupulously attentive manner, Bayh couldn't help but look a bit like Hillary's courtier. Which started me wondering if Bayh's recent, unexpected announcement that he would not be running for president himself (less than two weeks after forming an exploratory committee, mind you) had anything to do with hints from Team Hillary regarding her future plans for a running mate. (Though never a top-tier potus contender, Bayh has long been regarded as an ideal number two.) To avoid starting any rumors, let me stress that I've heard no such rumblings. Still, the two Senate centrists do make a lovely political couple. During her portion of the presentation, Hillary introduced her contribution to the flood of congressional resolutions being floated in opposition to Bush's absurd "surge" plan for Iraq. Hers is a relatively ambitious proposal, which includes capping troop levels, tying funding for Iraqi security forces to certain benchmarks, and placing a raft of other benchmarks on both the Iraqi government and the Bush administration. Nobody's fool, she acknowledged that her proposal has about as much chance of passage as a pro-gay marriage bill in Dixie and that it is largely, as ABC's Jake Tapper put it to her, "a threat." Nonetheless, she feels that the proposal provides an opportunity to send a strong message to the White House that it had better get its act together. Fast. The event, meanwhile, provided the political media a perfect opportunity to dissect precisely how Hillary is holding up in these early days of Obamania. (When her presser was postponed for a day, the move was immediately spun by the media as an attempt to avoid sharing the spotlight with her Senate colleague, who launched his exploratory committee Tuesday morning.) Did she seem surly? Tense? Spoiling for a fight? Not especially. Hillary has one of those faces that, at rest, often seems cloudy and formidable. It may have something to do with the heavy-lidded eyes, which can give her a bit of a lizard look. But, when the senator gets going on a topic, she visibly warms up. (On the trail, aides would do well to figure out a way for her to look pleasantly engaged during those countless hours in which she'll be standing around listening to introductory speakers sing her praises.) In this case, she even managed a wry quip or two about the unlikelihood of her measure going anywhere anytime soon. Even so, it was hard to tell if the glint in Hillary's pale eyes was one of satisfaction or irritation as she surveyed a journalistic mob that has, of late, been according Obama the same rock star treatment it grants her. As Democratic media consultant Anita Dunn notes, "Of all the challenges she has anticipated and prepared for, there was no way to anticipate or prepare for this one: the candidate whose celebrity value now matches her own, whose book sales match her own, and whose ability to command media attention nearly at will arguably matches her own." Plus, he looks way hotter in a swimsuit. With Senator Sexy in the mix, Clinton suddenly goes from being the iconic figure in the race to looking like "a much more conventional pick," observes a veteran of Bill Clinton's campaign team. "The central irony of her predicament is that we are on the cusp of potentially electing the first woman president of the United States--and she is not the candidate historically breaking the glass ceiling or the candidate with all the excitement and energy." On a more strategic level, Obama has certain obvious assets that could eat away not only at Hillary's share of women voters (That voice! That charm! Those chats with Oprah!) but also at her share of black voters, who have proved so vital to her family's political fortunes. "Hillary Clinton's secret weapon all along was that her husband was adored by the African American community," notes the Clinton campaign veteran. "It was my sense that this was the ace up their sleeve." But, now, Obama all but guarantees that the black vote will be "less monolithic." So what's an ambitious, hard-charging girl to do? For starters, play the experience card. Thus far, the biggest question mark about Obama is whether he's too green to sit in the big chair. If you're part of Team Hillary, Democratic strategist Kenneth Baer says, the question you want voters asking of Obama is, "Where's the beef?" At the same time, Clinton's people must face head- on their own candidate's negatives--such as all those pesky "electability" questions about her tough, polarizing persona--and find a way to spin them as positives. In a recent "Campaign Memo" posted on the exploratory committee's website, Hillary strategist Mark Penn went on at length about how the senator is leading in the early polls despite enduring years of ugly, partisan attacks. In other words: What could the opposition possibly throw at us that we haven't already dealt with? Obama, by comparison, falls squarely into the category of those Penn derided for never having been "in the crossfire." Hillary is "doing what she needs to do," says Dunn. "Defining the race on her terms: `in to win.' And she's never backed down, and she's the only one who knows how to beat them." Now, my assumption going into this Hillary-Obama madness was that the two principals would be awash in media coverage while the rest of their colleagues wallowed in obscurity. But so immense is the celebrity radiated by these two that some of their colleagues may also, on occasion, accidentally benefit from its reflected glory. Take Senator Joe Biden, for instance, who, despite having announced his presidential candidacy close to three dozen times, has been hard- pressed to get reporters to care--much less to stalk him for surfside beefcake pics. But at the Hillary presser, Biden, along with colleagues Carl Levin and Chuck Hagel, found themselves in the happy position of having booked the Senate TV studio for the half-hour block immediately preceding her event in order to announce their own anti-Bush-plan Iraq resolution. This meant that reporters looking to secure a good seat for the main act came early for the Biden/Levin/ Hagel opener. Even if Biden only got a handful of extra stories out of the coincidence, he clearly enjoyed all the extra attention. And talk about a lawmaker who hit the jackpot. Hillary traveling buddy McHugh must have thought he had died and gone to heaven. An utterly unknown legislator who, earlier in the week, appropriately had been dubbed "Congressman McWHO?" by The Washington Post's Dana Milbank, the New York rep looked ready to expire from happiness as he shared his thoughts and feelings with the assembled throng. It is a safe bet that, barring McHugh someday getting caught having sex in the House cloakroom with an underage page, never again will he have the attention of so many members of the Fourth Estate. Of course, not everyone will wind up a winner. Even as journalists were assembling for Biden's pre-Hillary event, John Kerry was down on the floor of the Senate, holding forth on some random subject. Alone. With little more than the Senate recorder to keep him company. As I said, this is going to be fun.