The Hillary Clinton who appeared on five Sunday morning shows was a formidable political candidate: poised, polished, knowledgeable. The package she presented was designed to send a message to her Democratic rivals: catch me if you can.

She now sits atop the Democratic field, in a tier by herself. She has achieved that by performing at a consistently high level in debates and on the campaign trail, along with help from a campaign that has been largely free of major mistakes. She showed Sunday she could stand in against some of the best pitching in political journalism.

The question was also answered by David here a couple of days ago. But yes, Hillary is unstoppable, and it is now probably too late to parachute Al Gore in to save the party, even if the Democrats had an inclination that the party needed saving (which they don't). Hillary's got it in the bag, and it isn't even October yet.

Here's why. Dan Balz goes on to speculate what would happen if Edwards and Obama finally go on the attack and whether it would make a difference. But they can only hurt Hillary, they cannot help themselves. The problem is not that Hillary is so good, the problem is that her top tier opponents are completely unelectable. John Edwards is a trial lawyer with very little experience. He's gotten this far by trading on great messaging and hard work, but it can only get you so far. Obama may be a great contender one day but not this year. He's too early, he's inexperienced and he's gotten this far by being an incredible public speaker. Maybe one day.

If I was evil (not a big stretch, some might think), and I was Hillary's campaign director I would do whatever it would take to keep these two in the race against me. They suck time and energy away from real threats, while making it look like Hillary has to actually work to get the nomination. Brilliant!