The cover story on this week’s Time magazine is about Hillary Clinton’s prospects as a presidential candidate in 2008. One of the key points in the story — or at least the one that Chris Matthews couldn’t resist flogging on “Hardball” tonight — is that she is the second-most polarizing figure in politics today.

I just don’t get that. She is the opposite of polarizing to me. She doesn’t inspire me but nor does she grate on me. I find her to be not unpleasantly bland.

If Hillary Clinton were a food, she’d be grits.

She has name recognition out the whazoo, so it is no surprise that she leads the 2008 Democratic pack with 46 percent. But what is surprising is that Al Gore is closing in on her at 41 percent.

As regular readers of these pages know, I’m not an Al Gore fan, but I am on record as believing the 2008 cycle is his to lose. Gore has barely placed in some recent polls so this new survey could indicate momentum in the “Draft Al” movement.