Clinton v. Pirro: A Random Thought

I know that this is going to be a very closely watched race for any number of reasons:

~two prominent women duking it out for a Senate seat from a major state;
~two candidates vying for a Senate seat in New York (media capital of the world); and
~two words: Bill Clinton.

Well, that's just the really juicy bits, but that's not the basis of this post.

The basis of this post is how Hillary must run her campaign to win New York's Senate seat when she has national ambitions - namely to run for President.

The two are not mutually exclusive. Let me explain.

The New York race is going to require that she tack to the Left because the majority of New York democrats are to the Left, even within the Democratic party in general. That means that her position of being for the war in Iraq is a liability. Now, that is offset because Pirro is also pro-war, but Clinton's moderate positions on other issues requires a very deft touch and spin to keep her from looking too right-wing in the eyes of her New York constituents.

Yet, that same need to balance her positions in New York are a liability when expanded to the country as a whole. The country is generally well to the right of Clinton's positions on many issues, so her run in the Senate could be exploited for soundbites to attack Clinton's consistency and positions.

In other words, Clinton is in a potential bind because of her Senate run and subsequent desire to run for President.

If I were Pirro's campaign, I would do everything to exploit this situation. And, obviously, if I were Clinton's campaign, I would do everything to minimize the situation and stress generalities over specific stands that have national repercussions.