Who Wins Between "Bunker Hillary" and "Nice-Guy Barack"?

The Washington Post ran an article dated November 13, 2007, about Barack Obama's political background in Chicago and Illinois. What's interesting about it is that he has managed to get elected to the U.S. Senate and run for President without making a lot of political enemies along the way. What the article also shows, though, is that even his supporters realize that his previous campaigns have not been the kind of campaigns involving personal attacks on him and his family. Whether Obama can handle that kind of campaign is unknown.

This is from the article:

"Hillary's team is the most experienced and most successful Democratic operation in 30 years," said a well-connected Chicago political consultant. "What Barack has shown is the ability to raise a prodigious amount of money. The one thing I don't know that Barack has proven is, can he take a punch? Can he take a sustained attack?"

This is probably one of the biggest assets that Hillary Clinton has going for her. There is absolutely no question that she is one tough lady. That toughness is shown in an article called "Bunker Hillary" that appears on the New Republic website. The article deals with the fact that Clinton doesn't take any stuff from the media and is trying to control how the media covers her by both persuasion and intimidation.

This is a quote from the article about how Clinton handles the press:

It's enough to make you suspect that breeding fear and paranoia within the press corps is itself part of the Clinton campaign's strategy. And, if that sounds familiar, it may be because the Clinton machine, say reporters and pro-Hillary Democrats, is emulating nothing less than the model of the Bush White House, which has treated the press with thinly veiled contempt and minimal cooperation. "The Bush administration changed the rules," as one scribe puts it--and the Clintonites like the way they look. (To be sure, no one accuses the Clinton team of outright lying to the press, as the Bushies have done, or of crossing other ethical lines. And reporters say other press shops--notably those of Rudy Giuliani and John Edwards--are also highly combative.)

Clinton's campaign is obviously focused, tough, and able to both take and dish out political heat. It is not, however, warm and friendly. The Obama campaign is probably warmer and friendlier, but, in the end, will it be as effective?