Hillary Clinton and the Price of Inevitability

Making News

Turkey Considers a Raid into Northern Iraq ()

In the past three days, 15 Turkish troops have been ambushed and killed near the Iraq border—reportedly by the PKK, a Kurdish separatist group.  Today, Turkey's government said it has started to plan a military operation into Iraq to chase after the PKK.  Semih Idiz is columnist for Milliyet, one of Turkey's major newspapers

Guests:

• Semih Idiz: Columnist, Milliyet

Main Topic

Hillary Clinton and the Price of Inevitability ()

In Iowa, Hillary Clinton has begun a bus tour she calls the "Middle Class Express" to tell voters she cares abut hard-working Americans. Meantime, conventional wisdom has shifted in her direction and the acknowledgement that she's overcome years of personal scrutiny. The Boston Globe reports that New Hampshire voters are "warming unexpectedly to Clinton."  She's leading in the latest Iowa poll. Today's New York Times calls here the "presumptive Democratic presidential nominee." But as her lead grows in fund raising and Democratic public opinion polls, some Republicans are rubbing their hands. With the Iowa caucuses still three months away, does being the acknowledged front-runner create a new set of vulnerabilities? Have those old, negative images been erased forever?

Guests:

• Mark Halperin: Senior Political Analyst, Time Magazine, @markhalperin
• Andrew Sullivan: Senior Editor, The Atlantic
• Kim Gandy: President, National Organization for Women
• Peverill Squire: Political Scientist, University of Iowa
• Jennifer Donahue: Senior Advisor, New Hampshire Institute of Politics

Links:

• Obama, Edwards, Biden, Richardson out of Michigan primary, Detroit Free Press on
• Clinton to keep name on Michigan primary ballot
• 2008 presidential candidates

Reporter's Notebook

Supreme Court Says No to el-Masri Case ()

The case of Khaled el-Masri is the most extensively documented case of what's called "extraordinary rendition." The CIA is accused of seizing terrorists and transporting them to countries known to use torture in their interrogations. When it refused to take el-Masri's case, the Fourth US Circuit Court of Appeals said, "We recognize the gravity of our conclusions." It explained that the case "pits the judiciary's search for truth against the executive's duty to maintain the nation's security."  Today the US Supreme Court turned down el-Masri's appeal. Dahlia Lithwick is senior editor at Slate and a contributor to NPR's Day to Day.