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Angry and shrill

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, a likely Democratic presidential candidate in 2008, "seems to have a lot of anger," and voters usually do not send angry candidates to the White House, the Republican Party chairman said yesterday.

"When you think of the level of anger, I'm not sure it's what Americans want," said Ken Mehlman, head of the Republican National Committee.

Mr. Mehlman cited the senator's remarks on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in which she called the Bush administration "one of the worst" in history and compared the Republican-controlled House to a "plantation" where opposing voices are silenced.

"I don't think the American people, if you look historically, elect angry candidates. And whether it's the comments about the plantation or the worst administration in history, Hillary Clinton seems to have a lot of anger," Mr. Mehlman said on ABC's "This Week."

When contacted for a response, Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson told the Associated Press: "If the president and the White House spent half as much time worrying about the runaway deficit and the broken Medicare system as they do about Hillary Clinton, the country would be in much better shape."

In an interview with CBS last month, President Bush said Mrs. Clinton would be a formidable candidate.

Rescuing the GOP

"President Bush was in trouble. Nothing was going right, and the war in Iraq was rapidly losing support. Democrats smelled victory but kept bungling the chance. Their nominee was so unappealing that Bush and the GOP scored a giant victory," New York Daily News columnist Michael Goodwin writes.