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Run left, run left, run middle, punt. Unless you’re Vince Lombardi’s Packers, it’s not a winning game plan – especially when playing catch-up late in the third quarter. That’s the position all but one of the Democratic presidential candidates find themselves in heading into tonight’s debate in New Hampshire. The question everyone is asking is this: who will open up the offense against front-runner Hillary Clinton and take some shots down the field?

A new poll by WMUR-TV and CNN is a reminder of the scoreboard in New Hampshire as the third quarter of 2007 winds down. Clinton has seen her lead expand since summer. In this survey, Clinton leads Barack Obama by over twenty points, 43 percent to 20 percent. In July, Clinton’s lead was 36 percent to 27 percent. In the current poll, John Edwards trails with 12 percent and Bill Richardson has slipped a bit, garnering just 6 percent support.

Obama and Edwards have staked out their arguments against Clinton thusly: She represents the status quo; she’s beholden to special interests, unable to bring about the change the electorate seems to be clamoring for; she is too divisive to win in a general election, has too much baggage from the 1990s and is an easy target for Republicans. Those lines of attack have done nothing to stop Clinton’s growing lead.

“Going after” Clinton has always been a dicey proposition. Going after some of her more obvious vulnerabilities – past scandals, her failed health care push and the visceral reactions she elicits among many – are all-too familiar GOP talking points and risks a backlash among core Democrats. Questions of electability are helped by public comments by Republicans who almost seem to be salivating over the prospect of meeting Clinton in the general election. Yet, there is also a feeling that the opposition may be playing a game against the Clintons who are, after all, nearly undefeated in big game matchups against the GOP.

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