handed handlers insult entire states, and her self-absorbed husband indulges in red-faced, finger-wagging outbursts, Sen. Hillary Clinton soldiers on. It is a joyless campaign, with stump speeches that carry tales of woe and get delivered in a booming voice that could open a wall safe. A full three months after the Iowa caucuses, nearly two months after Washington's caucuses, the Clintons seem bent on turning the Democrats' fertile ground into scorched earth. The campaign has come back to the Northwest. Clinton's is hardly the same candidacy touted by national pundits as “inevitable” when she held three $2,300-a-head fundraisers here in October. And we've witnessed a former front-runner's ability to step in it - and stay there. Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, holder of two Cabinet-level posts in the Clinton administration, endorsed Sen. Barack Obama. The retaliation was furious, swift and self-defeating. Clinton backer James Carville opined: “Mr. Richardson's endorsement came right around the anniversary of the day when Judas sold out for 30 pieces of silver, so I think the timing is appropriate, if ironic.” Act 2 came last weekend in California, when Bill Clinton met privately with California's convention superdelegates. Rachel Binah, a supporter of Richardson's presidential candidacy earlier this year who now backs Clinton, told the ex-president she was “sorry” to hear Carville's remarks. Bill Clinton erupted. “Five times to my face (Richardson) said that he would never do that,” a beet-faced Bubba said. “The former president then went on a tirade that ran from the media's unfair treatment of Hillary to questions about the fairness of votes in state caucuses that voted for Obama,” the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The official Clinton reaction to Richardson's endorsement was condescension. “The time he (Richardson) could have been effective has long since passed. I don't think it is a significant endorsement in this environment,” declared Clinton's “chief strategist” Mark Penn. Sound familiar? After Super Tuesday, Penn declared that Obama won only one “significant” state, his home base of Illinois. Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Missouri - and Washington that Saturday - are dismissed by Hillaryland. The campaign stumbled on, trying to explain the candidate's false statement that she landed under fire while on a visit to Bosnia as first lady. The TV footage of the event showed a standard-issue welcoming ceremony. Come Wednesday, Richardson's endorsement was back on ABC News. Hillary Clinton was quoted as disparaging Obama to Richardson, saying: “He cannot win, Bill. He cannot win.” She was denying the statement Thursday. The defections must stick in the craw of the Clintons. Senior party nabobs are sending a message: It's time for you to go. They've cleared the table, put the cat out and are yawning at the power couple that gave them the first Democratic presidential re-election since FDR. Look at Tuesday's Obama endorsements: Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal, an attorney under Clinton; 9/11 Commission member and former Indiana Rep. Tim Roemer; ex-House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Lee Hamilton; and ex-Montana Sen. John Melcher. The press is rough on the Clintons, but Obama has lately stilled a media firestorm. The miscalculations and misjudgments - which likely have cost Hillary Clinton the nomination, and Bill Clinton much of his reputation - are the campaign's own doing. In years past, the Clintons showed an amazing knack for getting themselves into binds - but then escaping tight corners. It has deserted them. __
