With Enemies Like This

Hell hath no fury...

Bill Richardson will need all the friends he can get ... if Clinton should win.

Gov. Bill Richardson has denied those pre-Iowa caucus reports that he made an 11th-hour deal to send his supporters to Barack Obama if he failed to reach the 15-percent "viability" threshold in the first round of Democratic caucus votes.

But true or not, someone believes it's true -- longtime Clintonista and fund-raising whiz Terry McAuliffe, who told The New Republic's Michael Crowley on the grimly upbeat flight out of Iowa last week aboard Hillary One.

The usually upbeat McAuliffe's mood darkened when Crowley asked him about Richardson, according to The New Republic (and this excerpt on the Real Clear Politics blog): "The preternaturally jolly McAuliffe is a good man to have spinning for you in a pinch. But his good cheer dimmed when I asked him about Bill Richardson, who appears to have made an 11th-hour deal to throw his supporters to Obama. "How many times did [Clinton] appoint him?" McAuliffe marveled. "Two? U.N. Ambassador and Energy Secretary?" He looked at me, half-glaring, awaiting confirmation. "I don't know," I joked, "but who's counting?" "I am," McAuliffe said firmly"