Pirro Is Out

Call it the candidacy that never was. Jeanine Pirro, the Westchester County Republican district attorney who hoped to challenge Hillary Clinton for the U.S. Senate in New York, withdrew from the campaign and chose to run for state attorney general instead. Pirro's Senate bid started with a bang in the form of an exploding cigar, when she announced her candidacy in August and somehow found herself at a loss for words for half a minute when she realized she had lost a page of her speech. That, of course, turned out to be the highlight of her campaign.

The Republicans think - somewhat incredulously - that this will allow them to unite behind a stronger candidate who can unseat Mrs. Clinton and thus strike a blow to her possible presidential ambitions. The New York state GOP ought to be careful of what they wish for. As John Kerry proved last year, it's almost impossible for a sitting senator to win the Presidency, but if Hillary were to lose her Senate seat, she'd suddenly have plenty of free time to run for the White House.

Her Senate career over, she'd have nothing else to do. :-O