Senator Clinton appeared on tonight's episode of the Daily Show and I wanted to toss out a couple of thoughts.

Stewart didn't hold anything back in his opening fake news salvo.  He hit both candidates on some of the rhetoric, noted some passive-aggressive stuff on both sides and even played the 3AM phone call spot, complete with a typical Daily Show side-by-side comparison with the original Walter Mondale treatment of the red phone scare tactic.  As a side note, did anyone else who watched laugh as hard as I did when Stewart noted that the campaign of late has started to resemble an alcohol-free Edward Albee play?

I thought Clinton's actual interview was quite good.  I felt like Stewart was pretty kind to her during the interview, but he tends to be a pretty amiable interviewer in most cases and I honestly think she did a very good job with the appearance.  I have my own long-standing political reasons where I take issue with Senator Clinton and I don't actual find her to be particular "likeable" in the gut-check sense, but I have to say that she came off as relaxed and funny.  I don't think this will do anything to win supporters away from Obama, but I think this is precisely the sort of thing that might score her some of the last-minute, go-with-the-gut type of voter.  Additionally, a lot of young people do watch the Daily Show and her numbers as far as the youth vote goes have been deficient, so I don't see how a positive showing here can hurt her.

It makes me wish that she had made better use of her personal traits in the last few weeks.  Who can really say how appearances like this and the SNL appearance over the weekend really affect voter perception?  I don't know, but I do know that my gut tells me that I like this Senator Clinton a lot more than the one I've been seeing recently.

It may turn out to be too little, too late, but we'll have to wait to see what tomorrow brings.