Clinton Vows To Stay In Race Until Convention

Hillary Clinton told the Washington Post in an interview published Saturday that she would stay in the Democratic Presidential Race until the convention:

In her most definitive comments to date on the subject, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton sought Saturday to put to rest any notion that she will drop out of the presidential race, pledging in an interview to not only compete in all the remaining primaries but also continue until there is a resolution of the disqualified results in Florida and Michigan.

A day after Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean urged the candidates to end the race by July 1, Clinton defied that call by declaring that she will take her campaign all the way to the Aug. 25-28 convention if necessary, potentially setting up the prolonged and divisive contest that party leaders are increasingly anxious to avoid.

"I know there are some people who want to shut this down and I think they are wrong," Clinton said in an interview during a campaign stop here Saturday. "I have no intention of stopping until we finish what we started and until we see what happens in the next 10 contests and until we resolve Florida and Michigan. And if we don't resolve it, we'll resolve it at the convention -- that's what credentials committees are for.

"We cannot go forward until Florida and Michigan are taken care of, otherwise the eventual nominee will not have the legitimacy that I think will haunt us," said the senator from New York. "I can imagine the ads the Republican Party and John McCain will run if we don't figure out how we can count the votes in Michigan and Florida."

Asked if there was a scenario in which she would drop out before the last primaries on June 3, Clinton said no. "I am committed to competing everywhere that there is an election," she said.

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Comments

[bluepdx]

Clinton seems to have forgotten that she signed the same pledge as all the other candidates (except for Kucinich) not to campaign in Michigan and Florida. She might have hoped that she would be the frontrunner and could seat the delegates once she received the expected nomination. Now that it's obvious that that is not going to happen, she wants to play the people's champion by pretending that she is staying in the race to guarantee that the people of Michigan and Florida have a voice, but no one should buy this. The primaries in Michigan and Florida were flawed either because most of the candidates did not appear on the ballot or because no one expected their vote to count. If Obama had won those states, you could bet that she would be taking a different stance. This latest declaration reinforces the Clinton message: her main goal is to become the nominee or destroy the democrat's only viable nominee in the process. The DNC needs to hold a superdelegate primary after the last primary to make it crystal clear that Clinton's hopes are futile and that she will not continue to get party support if she continues to undermine the party.

[NeuvoLiberal]

Mathematical Elimination Criterion:

She should drop out when the possibility of her getting a lead in pledged delegates (PD) in mathematically eliminated.

Obama currently has a 166 PD lead. There are 566 PDs to go in the remaining contests. By winning 213 out of those 566 (37.6%), Obama will have clinched PD victory.

It is estimated that on 5/20, Obama will have gained 214 PDs to reach the 1627 pledged delegate magic number. She should fold the tent when that happens.

In the mean time,

1. she should stop her and her campaign's negative attacks/tactics and keep things positive

2. she/WJC should stop propping up McCain or teaming up with the Republicans and sociopaths like Limbaugh etal

3. the Clintons should stop throwing the Black Church under the bus by attacking Wright for their personal political gain.

[GBecker]

She has to stick around for awhile ... Leno, Letterman, et al need her for their material.

[Gary47]

Get a clue. That's what dick, george and johnny-boy are for.

[SARGE1]

How Many Times Has Hillary Changed What Counted To Win?

Michigan Should Not Count Of Course; Now Hillary Is Claiming They Are Disenfranchised

The Winner Will Be Decided By Super Tuesday; Then It Was It Is Not How Many States It Is The Delegates;Then It Was It Was The Popular Vote; Then It Was The Pledged Votes; Now It Is The Superdelegates Duty.

Please Hillary Is Full Of It And If You Would Step Back You Will See She has Lost !

She Just Lost Texas Tonight, Now What ?

-Sarge1

[JohnKemp]

Damn, a whole week gone by without a super Dem being charged with some sort of crime, Spitzer, Patterson and the other idiot in Detroit (I forget his name).

WOW!

Must be some type of record.

[byteb]

It's called 'kneecapping'. Wound Obama by staying in so that he can't wind the general and then run in four years.
What does Clinton care? It's fun and all about winning.

[RichLiberal]

The Democrats deserve a better candidate than Obama. The Democrats in the big blue states have demanded that Hillary be the candidate. There is no reason why she should drop out just because Obama blind-sided everyone by grabbing unrepresentative red state delegates by fielding a bunch of college students whose votes in terms of pledged delegates count for 10-20 times a big blue state voters vote for their pledged delegates.

I know those are the rules. But so is the rule that you need a majority of 2025 delegates to win even without FL/MI. Since neither candidate can get that majority without the superdelegates, it is now the rule that the superdelegates decide. It is up to the blue state voters to convince the superdelegates that they should ignore the 20-to-1 red state pledged delegates and cast their votes on a more meaningful basis such as state by state electoral vote basis of which Hillary has a large majority. Such a basis of decision is also the only Constitutional basis on which the Nov election will be decided, so any other basis is just some made-up thing that the Democrats are doing for political and not Constitutional purposes.

[c1ee]

I agree. I remember her New Hampshire teary moment, where she something to the effect of "this is all so personal to me, and that this isn't a game, we're talking about our country here." It is clear to see she loves this attention she's getting, even if it is predominantly negative. IT IS a game to her. She also said that "this is the fun part" when people started asking her about her kitchen sink strategy.

[ME08]

The Clintons love a brawl...and politics is that. To paraphrase Bette Davis, life isn't for sissies, and Obamabots certainly act like them with their incessantly namby pamby whining that Hillary isn't playing fair (WHAAAAAAAAA!) Well the Obamabots can take their ball and go home, because there is no time for bitching, moaning and complaining in a hardfought battle...this Dem. primary season has been child's play compared to how poltical races have been run in American history...people are too soft, obviously, and expect wrongly that everything should be neat and tidy...too bad...it's a jungle out there in the political arena, and you better be ready for some serious smacking around...if not, then the one who needs to get out would be Obama, since he doesn't realize that his coronation is not forthcoming anytime soon, or even at convention.

[copesthetics]

'i have so much opportunity from this country' i'm mystified that no one tried to figure out what the heck she was saying. i mean talk about bizarro cryptic narcissism.

[RButler]

The Obamatons never make any sense. They want Hillary out of the race so that what? McCain can start attacking him in a way that makes Hillary's stuff look like child's play? Do they really think it will be easier if it's just Obama and McCain?

[FINTA]

why are people so afraid of McCain and the REPUGS???? I say come on with anything you have got... it doesn't change the fact the we are stuck in a clusterfu*% of a war, our economy is in shambles, gas is almost unaffordable, corporations run us, and the wealthiest 1% get all of the tax breaks!!!

John McCain looks so clean now because we haven't been able to open up his closet! Just wait... I am looking forward to it...

Either Dem will outshine McCain... even on our worst day!

[shockmagog]

It would be easier only if Clinton was no longer able to use McCain as both a shield and a sword against Obama. If and when Clinton drops out, Obama will always be the front runner and running on the high road. McCain will merely be an irritant--­insignific­ant and irrelevant.

Don't forget, too, that the Republicans have been chomping at the bit for years to take on Clinton's mountains of negative baggage. They have the websites ready to go.

[peorgietirebiter]

brilliant analysis. here's a brain teaser for you: what's the difference between attacks on a Democrat from a Republican opponent and attacks from a Democrat on another Democrat? One allows the Republican to run ads of the Democrat smearing the Democrat
all thru the general election. Until you understand this pretty basic political reality you have no business calling anyone names or making ignorant generalizations. Rule of thumb: If you can't be bright, be polite. If you are not capable of either, STFU

[JohnTalbutt]

She is campaigning for McCain. She has the same campaign manager, Burson Marsteller, It's illegal in horse races, and in NASCAR teams have to wear the same colors.

But please let her stay in. Voters are seeing through it despite she flies under false colors as a Democrat.

[POINT84]

No, but it will account for something. This is silly, first it started with debates about issues and how to move the country forward, now it seems they've stopped short of talking about each others underwear.

Hillary should stay in the race all she wants, but if its not about issues and uplifting the party, how is it beneficial to any one?

[copesthetics]

they did it al and john. why not, up-start barack?

[hopein]

Belly fat causes alzheimers and therefore Condi will be President by 2010. Thanks Hilliary.

[pbfishtaco]

Clinton/Lieberman 08!!

[TheEnticer]

Clinton-Voldemort 08 vs. McCain-Liebermann 08 vs. Obama-Bill 08

[Toonbytes07]

You mean Clinton / Benedict Arnold 08 and perhaps 2012

[thatsitfortheotherone]

Clinton - Vlad the Impaler 08

[Doncaster]

Satan-Clinton 08 -- oops, sorry... Clinton-Satan 08!!!

[SZM]

When's Hillary going to start counting all the fingers and toes of her voters? Maybe that's next week's plan who knows.

[flyguy14222]

Stay in girl. Half of these clowns don't even know a thing about you more than what they are told. Stay in and kick some ass..we need a leader(Hillary) not a follower or floundered one(Obama).

[S1m0n]

I don't have a problem with Hillary staying in the race until the convention, whatever that means.

Eventually--and probably sooner rather than later--the press is going to get bored and stop covering what she does, knowing that she has no hope of winning. At that point, what Hillary stays in or doesn't becomes moot.

[NoahVail]

Its all about Hillary, isn't it? She needs to get out if she wants to serve her country.

[Gary47]

Gee, like no other candidate has an ego. Is this like the first campaign you've ever seen? People fight hard and there's bruises. Deal with it.

[peorgietirebiter]

Gee, I'm so naive and so fragile that I'd actually prefer seeing Democrats run against each other without contracting Rovarian Cancer. Surely I haven't seen many campaigns if I find this low-rent. Gee, like me you must have been voting when Nixon was in the WH - now those were real campaigns! In other words, your argument is what exactly? Or like HLC your just going with the kitchen sink?

[AreYouFibbing]

Honestly, I have never seen so many people acting like biotches in one place. For all the rough and tumble talk, Obamabots don't seem to have much confidence in their boy holding his own.

[Xander]

This statement of hers doesn't surprise me in the least, by the way. It's been obvious from the start that she CAN'T drop out of the race--she's too indebted to her corporate interests (read: People who control her corrupt self). They won't let her drop out, they've invested too much into her, and she's in the hole.

[mesuki]

She can stay in the race,but won't she have to take some time off for that Paul case in California where she's accused of taking illegal campaign money? and whatever happened to the Tsu case in New York. where she again took illegal campaign money? Hillary Clinton is shameless !

[Toonbytes07]

Dont forget about the upcoming Elton John fundraiser!!!

[Kalima]

Queen meets wannabe Queen.

[lorla]

She stated at the end of the interview that the candidate in November can't win the WH without the female vote, and she is sure women will turn out for her. Does she not realize that she can't win without the AA vote either? She sure has mastered the job of half -legitimate observations. She's become embarrassing to watch.

[samson24]

Obama is just plane embarrassing.