Lynn Sweet’s column today paints 2008 as a potential battle of “Goliaths,” with the consummate insider, Hillary Clinton, taking on the media darling, Obama. She even suggests that David Axelrod, Obama’s most important strategist, will be a key force in this battle since he has seen the underbelly of New York politics (I can’t imagine it stink any worse than ours).

True enough, Axelrod’s dismantling of both the Blair and Ryan campaigns was impressive, even if it undermined the democratic process along the way. There’s no reason to think Axelrod wouldn’t be a serious part of the Obama campaign or that he wouldn’t go after Hillary with the same expert ruthlessness.

The question though, is can the Democrats afford to let this “battle of Goliaths” take place. There’s no doubt Obama and Hillary are two of the most important faces in the Democrat Party. Letting them bloody each other’s noses in a knock-down, drag-out primary would risk turning the amateur Obama into damaged goods or reminding the public that Hillary was damaged long ago.

Of course, the decision to run is up to the candidate. The party doesn’t have borg-like control over its leaders. However, one can’t help thinking that Obama mud wrestling with Clinton in New Hampshire next spring would be a bad idea.

Not to mentioned that it may inadvertently lead to neither one winning the nomination. Nothing ruins “elect-ability” like mud slinging … just ask Howard Dean.

PS: Another interesting item in Sweet’s column is a poll in which 50 percent of Americans claim they think the “nation is ready” to elect a woman or an African American. But what does it mean to be “ready?” Is this akin to saying “it’s about time,” or is it really an appraisal of whether the respondent thinks other respondents, i.e. “the nation,” would actually vote for a woman or an African American.

This is not just an academic distinction. On the one hand, I could be ready for a woman president, but on the other not really have faith that enough Americans feel the same way. If so, I probably won’t vote for Clinton or Obama in the primary for fear of disadvantaging my party’s chances for victory. I’m only going to vote for Obama or Clinton if I really believe the nation has progressed to the point where race and sex doesn’t matter and that’s a tall order.

I’m not saying the poll is wrong, but I think it would be naive to think race and gender won’t affect the voting of even the “tolerant” liberal types.