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Edited on Sun Mar-30-08 09:22 PM by KansasVoter
Hillary Clinton wants to be the Doug Flutie of the 2008 Election. Her logic for staying in the “game” is that it is the 4th quarter and she is only down by 4 points and one Hail Mary pass could win this nomination for her. But in this game Hillary is down by way more than one touchdown. The decision to stay in the race is beyond all logic except to say “I cannot possibility lost this nomination”. She has thrown out logic and loyalty at this point. How many Hail Mary passes would it take?
We don’t need to go over the numbers anymore. But let’s have a refresher. Even with 10 point wins in the remaining 12 contests (I am including Florida and Michigan to give her the best chance) Obama still leads by 71 delegates. Even with a 15 point win in the remaining 12 elections she is down by 12 delegates. And let’s face it, she only won Ohio by 9 points and Texas by 5 points. Hillary will not win 12 contests in a row by 15 points. Obama will also win some of the remaining 12 states. Or get a lot closer than 15 points. So everyone, even the biggest Hillary supporters agree, that Obama will have the delegate lead after the final 12 contests.
So what are her options? The remaining options are ones that I think makes Hillary look so desperate that I am surprised she is willing to accept them as viable options.
Option 1, go into Denver with Obama leading the delegate and popular vote race and try to convince the Super Delegates that Obama cannot win the general election. This option borders on insanity. Can you imagine the super delegates at this point, with Hillary behind in delegates and popular votes, voting to make Hillary the nominee? The Obama supporters would riot and maybe burn Denver to the ground. The 2 million donors who have gave about $30 million a month to Obama would flee the party in a really bad mood. There would be groups and web sites formed called “Obama Supporters for McCain”. There is no way Obama supporters would “Get Over” this snub. Face it, Hillary cannot think this is a real option. If this happens the Democratic Party would cease to exist.
Option 2, go into Denver with Obama leading in delegates and Hillary leading with popular votes. This is possible, especially if Hillary some how gets Florida and Michigan included and wins the other states by huge margins. Very unlikely but possible. It still would be impossible for the Super Delegates to override the delegate counts since the party made the rules that counted delegates, not popular votes. And remember, Obama pulled off 12 wins in a row by an average of 20 points. So even with Hillary winning popular votes it does not take away from Obama’s delegates wins. The party would really have an issue with telling millions of motivated Obama voters he lost because the Super Delegates thought Hillary was a better candidate. I think the Obama supporters would leave the convention, and it would not be good press.
Option 3, Hillary heads into Denver and Dean convinces Obama to make her his VP. I don’t think Hillary’s ego will allow this. I also don’t think that Obama wants Bill Clinton running around the White House telling him how to run the government. And does anyone think Bill could keep his mouth shut to the press on decisions that Obama made that Bill or Hillary did not agree with? I think Hillary as VP would not work at all for Obama and would undermine his presidency.
Option 4, Hillary is hoping something major will happen that will cause Obama to drop out of the race. I think this option is really what Hillary is hoping for. This is the only option that can possibility really happen. I doubt there is any issue that could be worse for Obama then the Pastor problem but Hillary is hoping for it. It is a weird option for Hillary to hope for because even if she dropped out, and something major happened that caused Obama to quit, she could still be the nominee. This option seems very unrealistic, but once again, Hillary’s ego is preventing her from admitting defeat.
So at this point I cannot see any way for Hillary to get the nomination and I would love for someone, anyone, to tell me how she can without losing all of the Obama supporters and making them very angry. There is no way he can lose on delegate count and if he has the delegate lead there is no way the Super Delegates can go against him.
It is obvious Hillary is not quitting because her ego cannot possibility admit that Obama beat her. I honestly think Hillary is shocked and cannot admit defeat. It is that simple. She cannot admit that the Clinton political machine is done. It is sad that she would hold out when there is no possibility of her getting the nomination without making millions of new, motivated Obama supporters lose faith in the process and lose millions of donations that Hillary has not been able to match.
The difference between this primary and a sporting event is that Doug Flutie wanted to win without destroying the other team and preventing them from winning their next game. Hillary wants to win at any cost, including destroying Obama so he has to struggle to gain back independent voter support in the general election. No athlete would want to win by stopping the opponent from being able to play the future games. Since this is Hillary’s last chance, she will destroy and do anything to stop Obama. Even if it means Obama will lose the general election.
Hillary is not 4 points down, she is 158 points down. No play in the world can save her. So her only strategy is to stop either team from winning. If she can’t win then she will make sure no one will!
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