Two interesting, interrelated stories out today. The first is Jason Horowitz's account in the New York Observer of a recent Mark Warner fundraiser in New York City. Warner is quietly but aggressively trying to land a few big fish in Hillary's back yard with his "I'm electable, she's not" pitch. One of those attending the event told Horowitz:

"If the donor community of New York were locked into Hillary Clinton's candidacy, these events would not be taking place. They have not made a blood-oath commitment to Hillary and they want to win, and they want to see who can do that."

But Warner's effort to exploit any chinks in Hillary's fundraising armor is probably made more difficult by the second piece of news out today, which is the report in The Hill that former DNC head and longtime Clinton bag man Terry McAuliffe has signed on to chair Hillary's 2008 run.

I attended a private Warner fundraiser in the north suburbs of Chicago a few months back and found exactly the same thing as Horowitz. Most of those I talked to generally liked Hillary but immediately brought up concerns about her electability. In fact, the host of the event described himself as a liberal who was not politically active prior to 2004. After being crushed by the reelection of George W. Bush, however, he set out to find a Democrat with the sort of profile he felt could win back the White House: a moderate/centrist who could connect with Middle America and compete in the South. Alas, it was a pretty short list. He called Warner's office (he was still Governor of Virginia at the time) and left a message saying he wanted to talk. To his surprise, Warner called back.

This story is one Warner has to replicate many times over, and fast, while there's still money to be had and a considerable resevoir of doubt remaining about Hillary's electability. Warner only has so much time to tap into the pragmatic streak running through the Democratic party which, despite some outward appearances, remains wide and fairly deep.

Once Hillary's 2008 locomotive gets fully on the tracks, with $50+ million in the bank and a frontloaded primary schedule (which could grow even more so if New Hampshire moves into January or even December '07 and Iowa follows suit) it will be difficult to stop, especially as she begins to spend her considerable funds (and Bill starts to work his magic on voters) shrinking those doubts about her electability.