According to the latest Zogby poll, in head-to-head matchups:

Barack Obama (D) beats Rudy Giuliani (R) 48% to 42%

Barack Obama (D) beats John McCain (R) 46% to 43%

Barack Obama (D) beats Mitt Romney (R) 52% to 35%

Barack Obama (D) beats Fred Thompson (R) 52% to 35%

Anyone who dismisses Senator Obama due to his relative lack of experience doesn't understand that 'experience' is NOT the defining characteristic sought by the American public.

Instead, they want someone they can relate to, pure and simple. That's why a big city mayor has a better than average shot at becoming president. That's why a 'folksy' New Englander turned figurehead Texan can become a two-term president (Note: In Texas, it is the Lieutenant Governor that holds the real power, not the governor (Bush was governor)). And that's why 'charisma' can win elections, often outshining arguably more critical traits involving idea generation, diplomacy, policy creation, decision-making, solid ethics, past experience, and good-judgment.

In fact, Obama performs better against every Republican presidential contender than any other Democratic hopeful.

And Hillary?

Well, both Senators Hillary Clinton and John Edwards defeat Romney and Thompson in a head-to-head match up, but lose to both Giuliani and McCain.

As an interesting aside, relative unknown (amongst nationwide non-politicos) Bill Richardson, Governor of New Mexico, leads Romney and is tied with Thompson while trailing Giuliani and McCain.

Nevertheless, the biggest ongoing story here is Hillary's slow but steady decline from inevitability met with Barack's consistent rise. The pro-Iraq-debacle candidate falls and the anti-Iraq-debacle candidate rises. As it should be.

Unfortunately for Hillary, I find it hard to believe that any amount of Iraq flip-flopping or issue-clouding is going to save her from the gross lack of judgment and courage that ravaged her in the run-up to the Iraq invasion.

Sow. Reap.