Can Spitzer Hurt Clinton?

Will the Eliot Spitzer scandal hurt fellow New York Democrat Hillary Clinton, who's all too familiar with the travails of philandering men? Writers are weighing in:

• Clinton had trouble securing Spitzer's endorsement, writes John Nichols in the Nation, and now, "He is a distraction—the big player in her adopted home state who is now in big, big trouble." One positive: David Paterson would "instantly become Clinton's most prominent African-American backer."

• The London Times reports that if Spitzer resigns, he won't be replaced as a superdelegate, so she's down one, and Spitzer's "difficulties will undermine her efforts to paint her rival Barack Obama as morally dubious due to his links with Tony Rekzo."
• Glenn Thrush of the Chicago Tribune runs down the scandal's potential impact on other New York pols and speculates about Clinton's private reaction: "From a payback perspective, she must be having a discreet chuckle."