posted October 21, 2004 12:42 PM            

While they still intend to vote for John Kerry, many Democrats are already resigned to his defeat and are looking forward to Hillary Clinton's presidential candidacy in 2008, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd said Thursday.

"I know a lot of Democrats I've talked to are really resigned," Dowd told radio host Don Imus. "They've sort of moved on in their heads to Hillary in 2008."

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While the acerbic writer continues to fight the good fight on the Times op-ed page - bashing Bush with her trademark venom and hoping the charges stick - Dowd's off the cuff observations suggest she's given up on Kerry as well.
"Kerry's problem seems to be a Gore-like problem," she complained. "He's a loser even when he's winning. Kerry won all three debates but then he somehow is behind Bush in the polls afterwards. That's not who you want as your candidate, you know, a winner who's a loser."

Other Dowd observations that aren't likely to find their way into print include:

• "[Maybe] Kerry would have done better if he chose Biden as his running mate. I mean, he's dragging Edwards along now."

• "[Kerry] just seems to say what will be politically viable . . I think that's at the core of what bothers people about him. And that's what he did with Iraq."

• "I think [his vote against the first Gulf War] is really sort of sinking him. Because he can't make the case against this war, then. Bush and Cheney can just chortle at him."

• "I think that it was wrong and stupid to drag [Mary Cheney] into it . . . It just seemed smarmy to me."