After her highly-publicized surrogate dust-up with Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. over the remarks of David Geffen after the $1.3 million fundraiser he put on for Obama, chinks have begun to appear in Hillary Clinton's armor. She is losing the air of inevitability which had surrounded her campaign, seeing a significant drop in poll support among Democratic primary voters. Party pros are beginning to wonder, too, as Donald Lambro of the Washington Times reports:

Talk among Democrats that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton could end up losing the Democratic presidential nomination is increasing because of growing doubts about her electability, fueled by her declining poll numbers.

At the start of the two-year election cycle, few Democratic campaign strategists -- except those among her rivals -- were willing to even entertain the notion that the influential New York Democrat could stumble and lose her front-runner status. But that reluctance has given way to an increasing belief in the party that she has become much more vulnerable.

"Yeah, I think she can lose the nomination," said David Sirota, a Democratic campaign strategist who says Mrs. Clinton is in danger of being surpassed by Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and, possibly, by former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards in key caucuses and primaries.

Mr. Obama trailed her by eight points among Democratic voters nationwide in a NBC/Wall Street Journal party-preference survey last week, and by three points in an American Research Group poll of likely Democratic primary voters. Mr. Edwards continues to show strength in the early caucus states of Iowa and Nevada.

Read the whole article at the link above. It is very difficult for a frontrunner to maintain that position over a long pre-campaign, especially in the Democratic Party. Once votes are actually cast, being the frontrunner is strongly correlated with winning the nomination, but before the primaries and caucuses lies a long preseason full of pitfalls and brick-bats. For instance, in 2004, Lieberman and Kerry were the early 2003 favorites, but both suffered as a result, and Dean's strong web performance elevated him to the front of the pack. But again, the spotlight seared the leader, and he collapsed before the Iowa caucuses by making silly statements and squandering his huge campaign war chest on frivolities.

In the 1988 campaign, it was Gary Hart's turn to lead the preseason in '87, and Ed Muskie had the nomination in hand going into 1972. Both self-destructed. In 1979, a majority of Democrats nationwide favored Ted Kennedy to replace Carter, but - as he promised - Jimmy "kick[ed] his ass."

The way to win as a frontrunner is to be like Mondale in '84 or Gore in '00 and maintain the sense of destiny about the campaign. Questions like the above, combined with shaky poll support, undermine Hillary's chances. Of course, there is plenty of time for her to reassert her lead, but who benefits if she can't? If the wheels come off the Hillary bus, look for Al Gore to step in.