None of this means Clinton can't win back some of the doubters, but the pre-primary calendar is growing shorter and she will have to turn things around well before the January-February primaries and caucuses.

"It doesn't mean she can't turn it around, but she is going to have to do it very quickly. I would say by November because of the number of early primaries and caucuses," Sarpolus told me.

"Around December, voters attitudes begin to settle in and harden," he said. But in an era when presidential campaigns are moving at an ever-faster pace, the early outline of the 2008 election contest is beginning to take shape.

Clinton retains her party front-runner status, despite her deep polarization of the electorate, while former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani is leading all of his rivals by increasingly larger margins.

But at this point in the run-up to the two-month primary sprint, virtually all the major general-election-matchup polls show Giuliani beating Clinton. A March 2-5 American Research Group poll shows him ahead of her by six points.

Two major factors are in play here. One is the battle between Obama and Clinton and the other is the intensity of opposition to Clinton among her party's anti-war voters.

Recent surveys show Obama closing fast on Clinton in the national polls. He trails her by a scant 34 percent to 31 percent in the ARG poll. But nominations are won in state-by-state contests where delegates can be apportioned under different formulas.

In Michigan's Democratic primary, for example, "Hillary right now is kicking butt," Sarpolus told me. But in his latest general-election-matchup survey against either Giuliani or John McCain, "it's neck and neck."

What all of this says at this juncture is that, despite the political woes of war and scandal that Republicans have on their plate, the GOP is still very much alive and kicking in the 2008 race for the presidency.