A Real Challenger for Hillary?

There was Ed Cox and Jeanne Piro, now there may very well be a real challenger in New York for Hillary to contend with. Kathleen Troia McFarland is seriously considering taking one Clinton. McFarland has some very serious credentials, having been the highest ranking Pentagon official in the Regan Administration. She was also one of the architects of Regan's cold war policy. She is what most would call a moderate Republican, which is what is needed to win in a red state such as New York. Any debates between her and Clinton will be most interesting, especially on foreign policy.

John Avalon, of the New York Sun and Independent Thinker has some more on this possible match up.

"While Mrs. McFarland is, like the vast majority of New Yorkers, pro-choice, she is an unabashed fiscal conservative of the kind we see too few of these days, concerned about government spending and the national debt. "Anyone who keeps the family's accounts knows that you cannot just keep borrowing money," she says, while raising a red flag over countries like China owning a disproportionate amount of our debt, sensibly asking: "Is that a leverage that we really want them to have down the road?"

Likewise, Mrs. McFarland seeks to distinguish herself from Senator Clinton not through personal attacks - what she calls "Gotcha! Politics" - but on policy debate. One point of contrast comes in her support of school vouchers. "As a kid who put herself through college on a combination of student loans, scholarships and jobs, we as a society need to encourage the maximum opportunity and responsibility."

"I am in the sensible center" she says, referring to Republicans like Mayor Giuliani and Senator McCain as contemporary political heroes, showing why some party leaders feel she would be able to build the broadest coalition in a campaign. There are many hurdles on the road ahead - a pivotal meeting in June of Republican county chairmen, followed by a September primary and a November general election against an incumbent who is planning to use the campaign as a launching pad to the presidency - but in terms of style and substance, KT McFarland may be the best candidate to beat Hillary Clinton. "

This could make the NY Senate race a lot closer than many would have ever imagined. - Sailor