Hillary's ace in the hole is her well-oiled, well-funded campaign, which keeps churning full speed ahead with iron discipline.
Giuliani's is his impressive record of taming the unmanageable New York City and his perceived post-Sept. 11 leadership.
Bill Richardson's greatest asset, though, is Bill Richardson.
The man has a r?©sum?© to die for: U.S. Congressman, New Mexico Governor, Ambassador to the U.N., Secretary of Energy under Clinton. He's negotiated with some of the worst despots in the world, including Kim Jong-Il and Saddam Hussein.
And to boot, he's a Tufts alum and Fletcher grad. A Jumbo through and through.
So why isn't he leading the Democratic field? Or at least keeping Hillary and Obama up at night?
Well, how would you react to a politician who told you he loved the Yankees and the Red Sox equally? Or told a room full of liberal activists that his model Supreme Court Justice was Byron White, an opponent of Roe v. Wade and Miranda v. Arizona? Or gave a speech in Cohen Auditorium and said, "Thank you, Harvard!"
I modified that last one a bit. What actually happened was that Richardson ended a Sept. 17 speech to the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) with "Thank you AFSCME!"
The AFSCME - the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees - is quite distinct from, and is in some states a rival of, the SEIU.
In the words of blogger Marc Ambinder, an analyst for The Atlantic and one of the sharpest political watchers: "Oops."
In addition, Richardson managed to offend the gay rights movement by insisting to national gay rights leaders that homosexuality was a choice. (His campaign put out a frantic press release "clarifying" that he did not mean what he had said, and that he was suffering from jet lag at the time). He declared Iowa a "Top 10" terror target and, in a pander that rivals the Yankees/Red Sox statement, claimed that "Iowa, for good reason, for constitutional reasons, for reasons related to the Lord, should be the first caucus and primary."
Oh, and to bring us full circle back to baseball, his biography for years has proudly mentioned his being drafted by the Kansas City A's in 1966. It turns out that didn't happen so much as not happen.
So the guy has made some gaffes: so what? He's hardly the first and won't be the last, right?
Not quite. Gaffes hurt any politician, but when you're running on a record of cool-headed competence and experienced leadership, these verbal fumbles are poisonous.
To muscle his way out of the second tier, Richardson had to be flawless. He had to live up to that impressive r?©sum?©. And, fairly or unfairly, he hasn't. His gaffes have been compounded by lackluster debate performances, which are all the more surprising given his universally acclaimed personal, garrulous style of campaigning.
Put simply, Richardson's Achilles Heel is his mouth. It runs a mile a minute, and every once in a while his foot finds its way into it with disastrous results.
All is not lost for our fellow Jumbo, however. It's still a long way to Iowa and New Hampshire, and most voters don't start paying attention for until much closer to their primary date, by which time most of Richardson's slip-ups will be ancient history.
His biggest concern should be the effect those mistakes will have on his fundraising. If the people with deep pockets don't think the Swiss Army Knife of governing is ready for prime time, they'll take the safe bet on Hillary.
That's the biggest danger Richardson faces as he continues to try to wed his broad and impressive r?©sum?© with his almost Clintonesque (Bill) style of campaigning.
