Tonight, the Democratic “hopefuls” (by which we mean one probable, two unlikelies, and four delusionals) are gathering for an 8 p.m. debate in Las Vegas. CNN isn’t even bothering with the respective Dem-candidate poll numbers in Nevada — they’re too busy matching Hillary up to Rudy (dead heat) and Romney (easy Clinton win). Which is funny, because the narrative of this debate seems to be more along the lines of “Can Hillary regain her momentum?”

The last debate, on October 30, went down in history as the one when the rest of the contenders realized they had nothing to lose and ganged up on Clinton. Since then, it’s been a rough two weeks for Hillary: She made a lame about-face on the aborted Spitzer plan for driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants and caught flack for planting a softball question in a town-hall meeting. Bill Clinton, for his part, suggested she was “Swift-Boated” in the debate. John Edwards and Barack Obama are sure to pick all of these scabs tonight, if their recent moves are any indication: Obama, for one, is “stunned” by the Swift Boat remark and will probably up the rhetoric from there; Edwards has gone all out in a recent anti-Clinton TV ad highlighting her inconsistencies. So, what we’re saying here is there’s no way in hell we’re watching this thing tonight … but you should. Please? Cheers, and Elizabeth Kucinich ’08. —Michael Idov

Poll: Clinton, Giuliani even in Nevada ahead of Vegas debate [CNN]