Hillary Clinton has trouble competing in states where she has to run against other Democrats, which is, of course, most of them. But what about a state where she and Dennis Kucinich are the only two on the ballot, where none of the other candidates have even set foot to campaign, and where the governor is a slightly more attractive, Canadian replica of Hillary herself, pantsuits and all?

Yeah, she's in danger of losing here, too.

There are growing signs that Michigan Democrats could turn out in larger numbers than expected for the Jan. 15 presidential primary -- and that may raise the stakes for Hillary Clinton, who could use a lift after her third-place finish in Iowa.

Clinton, the only top contender whose name will be on the Michigan Democratic ballot, has been widely expected to win the state by an overwhelming margin. Privately, Clinton supporters acknowledged Friday that she could be embarrassed if a significant percentage of Michiganians vote "uncommitted" -- one of the ballot choices.

The anomaly of having only Hillary and Dennis to choose from comes from the unfortunate decision of our state legislators to inject Michigan into the early primary competition. In return, we practically pushed Iowa into 2007, and the Democratic party unceremoniously yanked Michigan's delegates from the National Convention and lowered a big brick wall along the state lines. This has been fabulous for Republicans, who have dominated the message, and prior to last week, it was also fabulous for Hillary, who gets free delegates if the party reverses their decision to block out delegates (probably). Edwards and Obama are banned totally -- even write-in votes for them won't count.

Now, Hillary is in danger of getting less than 60% of the votes, which sounds like its still a victory, but its not really if you're competing only with "undecided." Less than a landslide would look, well, pretty stupid for the junior Senator. Not only that, but it would be, frankly, hilarious and even more so when her camp attempts to rationalize the "loss" as really a "win."

E. M. Zanotti spreads vicious political gossip at American Princess.