Hillary's Chappaquiddick?

The junior senator from New York has at least one deep-pocketed political enemy dedicated to derailing her dreams of the presidency. And he says he's got the goods on her.

One-time Hollywood mogul Peter Paul has launched a new offensive against New York Senator Hillary Clinton in a bid to break the big media embargo on allegations her 2000 campaign finance director cooked the books - a development, says Paul, that raises questions about the legitimacy of Senator Clinton's election.

In interviews with the Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes," the New York Times and NewsMax.com on Tuesday, Mr. Paul announced the launch of the Hillary Clinton Accountability Project, which will use the web site HILLCAP.org to publicize developments in his now four-year-long legal battle with the former first couple.

What, besides good taste, moral uprightness, and a deep sense of patriotism, would possess Mr. Paul to endanger his life by so publicly opposing the Bonnie & Clyde of American politics? What else - they swindled him, then set him up as the fall guy, and he won't sit still for it.

"There was a relationship that I had with the Clintons that extended over a period of a half-year," Paul told to Sean Hannity. "During the course of that relationship, they induced me to become Hillary's biggest contributor."

Paul says he donated $1.2 million dollars to Hillary's campaign by underwriting the lion's share of expenses for an August 12, 2000 celebrity gala fundraiser.

In a statement posted to his web site, the Clinton accuser said that if contribution had been properly reported to the Federal Election Commission as a hard-money donation, "it could have bankrupted the campaign."

That got Paul in legal trouble, and he turned star witness for the federal investigation into this matter that has bagged David Rosen, Hillary's 2000 campaign finance director, for trying to hide $800,000 of Paul's contribution from the FEC. Meanwhile, the Dragon Lady is, per Clinton SOP, denying any knowledge of these shenanigans.

Mr. Paul is saying, "Oh, no you don't!"

The headline on HILLCAP's mainpage reads: "Did Hillary Clinton win her Senate seat through fraud?"

"This fund-raiser will ultimately be viewed as [Hillary's] Chappaquiddick and cost her the presidency," Mr. Paul told the Times. "I've already got her campaign finance director indicted."

On the HILLCAP web site, Paul says he'll present evidence that "shows clearly that Hillary Clinton knew of the actions taken by her finance director, and that she orchestrated those actions and others in violation of federal campaign statutes and regulations."

Apart from Rosen's criminal prosecution, Mr. Paul has filed a civil suit against the Clintons, which he described to Fox News as "an historic case that, for the first time, brings a president and a senator into court to defend themselves on charges of fraud and extortion."

Will Mr. Paul succeed where so many others have failed miserably before? Clinton shyster David Kendall (who will never, ever lack for work, at least as long as he's on this particular retainer), with the usual smugness, doesn't think so:

"Peter Paul is a man with an impressive record of felony convictions, currently in federal custody. Most of his civil suit has already been dismissed and the remainder has no merit."

Felony convictions that, at least in part, Mrs. Clinton set him up for. Kinda neat how that becomes so self-fulfilling a prophecy, huh? That, of course, is also why the Clintons use shady operators in their schemes; once the latter are double-crossed, they're automatically disqualified from any credibility in the subsequent PR battles because, heck, they're shady operators, and we can't rely on what they say, can we? While, by shining contrast, Bill & Hillary are pure as the wind-driven snow, because the Extreme Media says so, and they never lie, do they?

Based on the track record, it's difficult to see Mr. Paul laying a finger on the ex-first female. But it bears remembering that this drip-drip-drip of scandal is happening not only before Hillary has secured the presidency, but also before she's even won a second senate term. Mr. Bill's high crimes and misdemeanors always broke after he was past both his national campaigns.

Her version of funny-money-gate most likely won't even slow down her national ascent. But there's always the chance, however remote, that, like the proverbial sword of Damocles, it may fall on her during the next three years at a time when she can least withstand it.