The Note: Dems Face Civil War in Bitter Clinton-Obama Battle

March 7, 2008 -- While we figure how to cope with life with one less revolution, six questions that could determine the Democratic nomination:

1. Which insult hurts more in a Democratic primary -- "Ken Starr," or "monster"? (And are these better labels to give or to receive?)

2. Which two words sting more -- "Tony Rezko," or "Clinton library"?

3. Which number matters more -- $55 million, or $4 million?

4. Which Barack Obama will we see -- tough guy, or nice guy?

5. Which Hillary Clinton answers the phone (at 3 am, of course) -- re-do Hillary, or voters-have-spoken Hillary?

6. Who can do something about any or all of this, before the Democratic Party eats itself alive? (Hint: The answer is probably not Howard Dean.)

Amid the fratricidal atmosphere enveloping the campaign right now, all that stands between the Democratic National Convention and peace from those scofflaws in Michigan in Florida (and maybe to avoid a brokered convention altogether) is $30 million, give or take. (Sorry, but isn't that just a good two weeks online for Obama?)

This is not how Dr. Dean wants to be spending his money (as if the DNC could afford it anyway).

But you sort of have to feel bad for those rogue states that just happen to matter a great deal in general elections -- all they really did was buy into the storyline of the earliest nomination fight ever.

Yet this would border on unforgivable: After starting us off earlier than we expected, now they could keep the contest going longer than ever.

While second bites at the apple may keep the spin doctors away, do the math -- the answer to polishing off an election that primaries and caucuses haven't settled probably isn't another round or primaries or caucuses.

That's if something can come together at all.

"There may be only three ways to end the impasse over the fate of Michigan and Florida's delegates, Democratic activists say -- with the Clinton campaign furious, the Obama campaign mad or the voters angriest of all," June Kronholz writes in The Wall Street Journal. "The Michigan-and-Florida issue remains almost intractable."

"The stakes are huge," Dan Balz writes in The Washington Post. "Florida and Michigan would have had 366 delegates between them. If Clinton or Obama were to score sizable wins in revotes, the states could have a major impact on the delegate margin between the candidates."

The money is the stumbling block.

Per the Detroit Free Press: "Despite growing enthusiasm and encouragement in some quarters for new Democratic nominating contests in Michigan and Florida, officials raised concerns Thursday about the cost, who would pay and whether there's time to put them together."

In Michigan, the solution may be a "firehouse primary."

Gov. Jennifer Granholm, D-Mich., tells the Detroit News' Mark Hornbeck: "It would be on a Saturday and accessible to average citizens because turnout would be huge. It would also cost a significant amount of money."

Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., says his state can run a new primary for $18 million -- but that Florida shouldn't have to come up with the cash to re-do an election the state still stands by. "So the question is, will the Democratic committee, will they pay for a re-do of a full-up election?" Nelson said on ABC NewsNow's "Politics Live."

Florida can do it on the cheap: "If Florida Democrats take one more shot at making their voices heard in this tick-tight race for the Democratic presidential nomination, the most likely scenario will be balloting by mail," Wes Allison writes in the St. Petersburg Times. "If state Democratic leaders now choose that route, the party would likely set an election date in May or June and send ballots to each of the state's 4-million registered Democrats at least 10 to 14 days beforehand."

Yet here's the biggest reason why the DNC won't be funding it: "The Democratic National Committee ended 2007 nearly flat broke, with cash of $2.9 million and debts of $2.2 million," Leslie Wayne writes in The New York Times. "Since then it has raised some money, paid down debt and managed to put $3.7 million in its piggy bank. This compares, however, with $25 million that the Republican National Committee has in cash on hand, after having raised $97 million since the beginning of 2007."

As Camp Clinton looks for a way to make up the delegate gap (now 114, per ABC's delegate scorecard), "Senator Clinton is offering the first signals that she would be open to new elections in Michigan and Florida, a move that would erase her earlier victories there but would give her two more opportunities to cut into Senator Obama's delegates lead," per the New York Sun's Russell Berman.

But don't think the campaign will accept just any solution.

Clinton herself told US News & World Report that she doesn't think there "should be any do-over or any kind of a second run in Florida" -- where both she and Obama were on the ballot -- and that she can't support a caucus in Michigan. "I think that would be a great disservice to the 2 million people who turned out and voted," Clinton, D-N.Y., tells Kenneth T. Walsh.

Chairman Dean will be George Stephanopoulos' guest Sunday on ABC's "This Week."

Back on the real-life campaign trail, there are plenty of other nuggets out there to keep us occupied.

Among the many remarkable things about this unprecedented Democratic race is that we have gotten to this incredibly late stage of this bizarrely prolonged nomination fight without Clinton having to answer one serious question that included the words "Monica Lewinsky."

Then, on Thursday, the Clinton campaign pushed back at the threat of an Obama attack by -- invoking Ken Starr? We're back to Clinton as victim -- it's worked before -- but is this really the imagery that Camp Clinton wants voters to have on their minds?

"I for one do not find that imitating Ken Starr is a way to win a Democratic primary election for president," said Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson, per ABC's Jake Tapper, who reports on the back-up for the claim from the Clinton campaign.

Newsday's Craig Gordon: "It's hard to think of a worse put-down from Hillary Clinton's camp than comparing someone to Ken Starr." Gordon adds this reminder: "Clinton is the one who turned up the temperature first in attacking Obama, accusing him of plagiarizing speeches, having ties to a 'slumlord' in indicted Chicago developer Tony Rezko and being ill-prepared to be president."

Now we'll learn how committed Obama, D-Ill., is to ridding campaigns of personal attacks: An unguarded interview with Obama foreign-policy adviser Samantha Power earns her a place alongside Austan Goolsbee in the category of really smart advisers who are really naïve about politics and journalism.

The commentary on Sen. Clinton that earned Power the Drudge treatment: "She is a monster, too -- that is off the record -- she is stooping to anything," Power told The Scotsman (except, no, it wasn't).