It was in many ways a "must-win" for Clinton, who throughout 2007 was considered the front runner for her party’s presidential nomination, in fact a "shoo-in" in the eyes of some. But she stumbled and stumbled badly in the open Iowa caucuses where independent voters may have outnumbered core Democratic party voters and who carried Obama to victory in the very first political contest of the season.

The Iowa defeat not only robbed Clinton of the air of inevitability, if also raised the possibility that a second, successive defeat would totally upend her campaign and relegate her to history books as another of the early "inevitables" who never made it.

With the victory in New Hampshire, Clinton’s campaign is getting traction again. And while she no longer looks as inevitable as she did before her defeat in Iowa, she still remains, I believe, the front-runner in the race for the nomination of the Democratic Party.

In fact, even this early, I believe that the race for the Democratic Party nomination is now down to Clinton and Obama; John Edwards, who in 2004 was the running mate of John Kerry, is I think going to fade even if he is able to pull off a win in one or two states and may in fact end up only a contender for another vice presidential nomination, assuming Edwards wants to be bridesmaid two straight elections in a row.

The race for the Democratic Party nomination being so up-in-the-air still, I am now confused as to which to bring out and use of the two 2008 election calendars I bought in the US last December: one features a "countdown" to the inauguration of "President" Obama; the other is a countdown to the inauguration of "President" Clinton.

Focusing on the Philippines and our own growing interest in elections in 2010, I recently asked listeners of the daily morning program "Pananaw sa DWWW 774 kHz" what they believed was an "ideal" tandem for president and vice president come 2010. I asked the listeners to name that combination of a president and vice president that they believed would be best suited to address our national problems (and even help us overcome our personal ones!) whether or not the individuals named were of the same party. And what interesting combinations I got!

One listener started off by saying he believed a President Mar Roxas by 2010 would be best positioned to address our problems. Who, I challenged, should be the ideal vice president to Mar? After admitting that he hadn’t given that much thought (despite my clear instructions that I wanted a tandem) he then sputtered that maybe Korina Sanchez would fit the bill.

I think he thought I was asking about love teams.

Another caller said he believed a Binay-Fernando team would be best, given the experiences of these two local executives, specifically their no-nonsense approach to governance.

A third suggested an Escudero-Estrada (as in Joseph, the ex-president) match-up, because the former, as president, would bring youth, vigor and idealism, while the latter would bring booze, babes and bets. (Just kidding.)

All in all about four listeners started off by saying a President Lacson would be ideal in 2010, with one of those suggesting a Lacson-Binay tandem. Three listeners suggested a President Binay, with one of them suggesting a Binay-Lacson administration. Manny Villar was the choice of two listeners, with Mar Roxas and Loren as his vice presidents. Bayani Fernando was the choice of two listeners.

I will detail the choices and name the listeners in Monday’s piece. But what do you think?