Other than the folks partaking in Operation Chaos, there’s not much that Republicans can do to influence the outcome of the Democratic primary. And the long and blistering primary has demonstrated that both Hillary and Obama are quite beatable. But Republicans who once thought Obama was the tougher opponent are telling me they’re starting to change their minds.

One of my McCain guys told me recently, “Hillary’s starting to scare me.” It’s not a matter of thinking she’s unbeatable, obviously; all of Team McCain likes their chances. It’s that she was all-but-declared dead a month ago, having lost nine straight contests in two weeks, and with her back absolutely against the wall… and now she’s had three impressive big wins, and appears on the verge of two more effective victories (winning Indiana and beating the spread in North Carolina). She’s had great photo ops, is handling Bill O’Reilly like he’s a pussycat, tore Obama apart in the debate, and is making her opponent look evasive by demanding more. Team Obama can brag about their continuing delegate lead, but there’s no doubt who’s been running the more effective campaign for the past two months or so.

Even if she doesn’t win the nomination, political strategists will be studying her comeback for years to come.

There is another wrinkle, though, and that’s that even if Hillary’s running the better, more focused, harder-hitting and more confident campaign right now, that she can’t get the nomination without generating epic amounts of ire among African-Americans, and sickening all of the wide-eyed young folks who have jumped on the Obama bandwagon.

Nominating Hillary probably does more long-term damage to the Democrat party. But nominating Obama puts up a candidate who has lost his post-partisan, uniting reputation to become just another politician, and who has looked absolutely lost on the campaign trail in recent weeks…