There’s no question that Hillary Clinton’s win at any cost strategy is drawing some blood from Barack Obama. But could there be an up side to that? Maybe.

GOP operatives are intently watching the Democratic primary fight to see how to push Obama’s buttons. They also hope Obama’s missteps and losses have alienated key general election constituencies – or at least planted negative impressions with them that will last into the fall…

Already, Republicans are testing a theory that Obama could be a liability for Democrats down-ballot, running ads in special congressional races that linked the Democratic candidate to Obama in hopes of helping the Republican candidate.

It didn’t work in Louisiana. The Democrat, Don Cazayoux, won Saturday anyway. Underscoring the GOP’s challenge this year, Democrats won the seat that Republicans have held since 1974.

If being associated with Obama didn’t sink a candidate’s ship, and even helps, then how much trouble was Obama really in? And as the article also points out, it would be unrealistic to expect someone’s first run for president to be flawless. Better to get the Hillary-level crap out of the way now than later.

“It hasn’t been a great couple weeks, but some of these problems were going to emerge anyway, and it’s better that it happened now than in the fall,” said Mark Mellman, a Democratic pollster who worked for Kerry’s campaign and is unaligned in the primary. He said Obama has gone through a “learning period” and that will benefit him in fall if he is the nominee.

Added Erik Smith, a Democrat and former aide to Dick Gephardt: “There’s something to be said for getting this stuff behind him, and not having any October surprises.”

I guess we have something to thank Hillary for after all.