And so it begins...

The Boston Globe:

With a moderate message and a call for a ''cease-fire' between the Democratic Party's liberal and moderate factions, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton accepted a new leadership post yesterday with the Democratic Leadership Council, the centrist group that helped propel her husband to the presidency in 1992. Clinton's increased involvement with the DLC -- the organization Bill Clinton used as a springboard to his national campaign when he was governor of Arkansas -- is the latest indication that she is seeking to build a moderate base for a possible run for the presidency in 2008. At the DLC's annual convention in Columbus yesterday, the senator's address to about 300 state and local Democratic officials promised a return to the prosperity of the Bill Clinton presidency. Using imagery first conjured by her husband, she blasted Republicans, saying they are presiding over a sluggish economy and allowing the nation's image in the world to tarnish. ''They turned our bridge to the 21st century into a tunnel back to the 19th century,' said Clinton, a New York Democrat. ''The clear mission of a unified Democratic Party is to back us out of that Republican tunnel, fill it in, go back across the bridge, and get America back in the business of building dreams again.' Clinton will serve as chairwoman of the council's new 'American Dream Initiative,' where she'll lead a nationwide effort to generate fresh ideas for Democrats to bring to politics. Charged with developing an agenda for the DLC by next summer, she'll travel extensively and make contact with local business, labor, and civic leaders.

This should end any doubt about Hillary's plans for 2008. This DLC position is a thinly disguised cover for a national presidential campaign. I continue to believe that Hillary will win the Democratic nomination and that she has a very good chance of capturing the Presidency. There is in fact a very good chance that I will be one of her supporters, dispited a dislike of many of her politics. Absent a Rice or Guiliani nomination, Hillary is my preferred candidate at this time. My reason for this is that I am, primarily, a single issue voter. While I am interested in Social Security, Education, and all of the other issues, I believe that whatever happens in those arenas we will muddle through. The War on Terror though, and the spread of Democracy matters however. I am terribly concerned that this effort, the most fundamental and signifigant of our time, has become a partisan issue. I am not confident that half the country can successfully wage this war and therefore getting Democrats actively involved in prosecuting it is fundamental. Whatever else Hillary may be, I am absolutely convinced that she is tough.

This month, Clinton called for adding 80,000 troops to the Army and pushed a Senate bid to expand healthcare for National Guard members who are deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Her increased attention to the armed services prompted a gibe yesterday from Bayh, who joked that he recently spied Clinton reading an issue of ''Soldier of Fortune" magazine tucked inside a copy of the Congressional Record.

I would trust Hillary to lead the War on Terror.