The New York Times failing to get John Kerry elected now starts touting its next candidate.

For the Moment, Mrs. Clinton Looks Like the Candidate to Beat

The other parts of the main stream media, after licking its wounds for a day or two, will fall quickly in line.

Speculation stories are free advertising and the Hillary camp will fuel those with tepid denials for a year or so. What Clinton operatives and closet supporters will want to do is marginalize all possible opposition like New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson so Hillary does not have to expose herself to fierce primary battles that would severly wound her and waste precious money.

Look for the drip-drip-drip of Hillary for President stories that will turn slowly into a flood in a year or two. Queen Hillary will be triumphantly be crowned the nominee with Bill at her side and Hollywood leftist whine and cheese crowd, the fawning media, the NASCAR-hating intelligentsia, and the wacko feminists groveling at her feet.

Update: The New York Times reports this:

Hillary Clinton. The speculators at InTrade have already made her the favorite (John Edwards is a distant second) for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008, and they are giving the Democrats a better-than-even chance of regaining the White House.

InTrade is an electronic futures maket based in Dublin. The markets there predicted President Bush's reelection and the results in most of swing states. Drip.