I feel ashamed and hypocritical for suggesting in two prior threads that Clinton should drop out.

Just to be entirely clear, I specified that she should only drop out if it was "mathematically impossible" for her to win. But clearly, this question is open to debate, as reasonable people on both sides of the issue disagree.

This morning I was thinking about how out of character it was for me to feel that Senator Clinton should drop out, when I'm still a bit pissed at Edwards for leaving even though he had no chance. If it were Biden who was still in the race, I would still be hoping that he would remain in the race.

Also, I thought the Leahy announcement was important until I was educated by a fellow DUer that he--for some time now--has been a dedicated Obama supporter.

My heart wants this race to be over. It appears that every day that Obama and Clinton fight each other, McCain gains in the polls.

Then on the other hand, I have to accept that politics is like this. What makes this different it that both Obama and Clinton are formidable opponents. Nobody said a thing when Kucinich was lashing out at other Dems, and I think it is because deep down nobody thought he posed a threat. He couldn't win.

My objective at this point is to be honest with myself. I prefer Obama, but I have many good things to say about Clinton. This contest has to be settled honestly, or else the nominee will suffer the anger of the resentful supporters of the opposition. We can't push anyone out of this race. We can't pressure Clinton out of this race because the blowback of that would be devastating for Obama.

But I don't know enough to assert with any confidence that Obama will be the nominee and that Clinton cannot possibly win, simply because educated, intelligent people on both sides of this debate disagree! I don't know more than others, so I have to defer to them until this issue is settled.

My brain tells me that I'm being a hypocrite to even suggest that Clinton leave the race. I respect her a great deal. She is not my preference, but she's a brilliant person with many passionate supporters. She has made mistakes, but so has Obama.

It's probably most productive to allow this process to settle itself and not attempt to force it and have it blow up and become far, far worse than it currently is.

"This contest has to be settled honestly, or else the nominee will suffer the anger of the resentful supporters of the opposition."

They will be angry and resentful anyway... she will litigate and cry foul... and broker the convention

twist arms

dude... you're totally right, but.... dark days maybe coming

sweetness and light, I am

but if she only wins in PA by 10 pts or so and goes on to lose NC by double digits, I'll be in the she should drop out camp. Such results would make it clear that her staying in would do NOTHING but damage dem chances in Nov. And so what if Leahy is an Obama supporter. He personally has nothing to gain by making his comments about Hillary. Why think anything but that he is genuinely concerned about winning in November and sees a long drawn out primary battle as inimical tot that goal.

Not because I want her to get the nomination; far from it. I'd like it to be close enough to be deadlocked come convention time, with the chance of someone else who hasn't been pre-eviscerated emerging as the nominee for the GE.

I think that Hillary should concede the nomination to Obama. I think that would be best for the Democratic Party.

think about what this is doing to Democrats across America. I, too, posted a 'call her and tell her to drop out' thread the day after I had a primer of the '68 Democratic Convention and I feared we were heading down that same path. I'm surprised at some of the stuff coming out of the Clinton campaign and even more surprised when friends and family let those things go but rant and rave about Obama news that is not as important or damning. When I say ranting and raving, I mean people who do not usually behave like this and are acting in a way I'm not used to seeing in them. I can only say that both Hillary and her supporters are desperate for something that seemed so sure not so long ago. This desperation in Hillary's supporters could result in not only a convention that tears us farther apart but local Democratic parties who worked so well just a few months ago might not be able to work together to win the General Election.

Do you think someone in Edwards' circle was able to step away from the here and now of his campaign and help him see a truth that we weren't able to see? The longer this goes on and Hillary and Bill keep saying things at their campaign events that sound good but don't mesh with reality or won't help us win in the General Election, long harder it will be for us to win.

Am I missing something? Is there some huge issue that noone else is championing but her that she needs to stay in the race for other than her own "power and experience"? For me, that's not an issue that you stay in a race for if all you do in the process is hurt everyone else when you are losing.

What a breath of reason your post is, and sadly, how rare it is to find on DU these days.

We're all in this together - to coin a phrase :)

Regardless of the "winner" of the Obama/Clinton primary, I will work to help elect a Democrat.

We simply have too much to loose not to all come together immediately after the nomination. Okay, maybe a week or two after as many people are bond to be disappointed. But we must not become a "house divided" to use a phrase from an Illinois politician.

The Hillary Deathwatch

Deathwatch: Down and on the way out.


Hillary Clinton is as good as dead. This became the consensus over the past week, when the media awoke en masse to the dual reality that 1) Clinton can't close the pledged-delegate gap and 2) Obama has her beat in the popular vote. But the Clinton campaign shows no signs of slowing--she said herself she's prepared to compete for at least three more months. So the question now is not just "How dead is she?" but "When will she realize it?"

In the tradition of Slate's Saddameter (gauging the likelihood of invading Iraq), the Clintometer (measuring the chances of a Lewinsky-related ousting), and the Gonzo-meter (charting the attorney general's demise), we bring you the Hillary Deathwatch, a daily update on Hillary Clinton's dwindling chances of winning the Democratic nomination.

http://www.slate.com/id/2187558/