But boys — we don’t hate her anymore.

Well, no, I guess we (read: you) do. Some loves are evergreen.

“Fundraising from our Republican conservative base would skyrocket, in my opinion, because she’s such a divisive figure in conservative Republican circles,” said Cesar Conda, who raised over $100,000 for President Bush in 2004 and was a top fundraiser to Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) this cycle. “Putting her on the ticket would be the one thing to wake those donors up from their current doldrums.

“It would really be a godsend to McCain and the Republican National Committee [RNC],” said Conda, who will work to help McCain…

A major McCain fundraiser agreed that Clinton would help McCain fill his coffers but requested anonymity because he is not authorized to speak for the campaign…

“For conservatives, the hair on the back of their necks stands up and they hear fingernails streaking down the blackboard,” said [GOP fundraiser Dan] Morgan. “With Obama, you have to spend a lot of time explaining who he is and why he’s bad. With Hillary Rodham Clinton on the ticket, she’d be a major focal point — you can just sit back.”

Yet another reason why making her veep is a horrible idea for Barry O. Morgan says elsewhere in the piece that the grassroots haven’t formed any strong opinions yet about Obama because he’s still a relatively unknown quantity, which is probably true … and kind of horrifying in what it suggests about the relative impotence of the vaunted conservative message machine. After Wrightgate and Bittergate and Limbaugh and Hannity hammering away at the Messiah for three hours a day for the past four months with no meaningful Republican primary contests to distract them, the base still isn’t worried enough about him to donate in huge quantities? Granted, Hillary carries a brand 15 years in the making, but the media’s been giving saturation coverage to their new love object since January. The fact that his positions are indistinguishable from hers should be enough to convey the horror. Or am I missing the whole point here, that Obama’s actually earned goodwill among conservatives by having dispatched Her Satanic Majesty?