Two Senior Advisors: We'll Tell Hillary To Resign If She Loses Indiana

In a recent, widely circulated New York Magazine piece, it was noted that, "according to Hillary's adjutants, the people most likely to have sway with her on this topic are not party elders at all but instead her fiercest loyalists, those who've won her trust over the years by dint of their unwavering support."

Familiar names from the annals of Clintondom are mentioned: Terry McAuliffe, Vernon Jordan, Rahm Emanuel (likely the only person in this club who is also close to Obama). So, too, are prominent endorsers such as Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell. "If one of her major African-American endorsers, like Stephanie Tubbs-Jones, told her it was time to quit, that would be very powerful," adds a senior Clinton adviser. Oh, and let us not forget her husband.

And in the New York Times this weekend, two such advisors apparently set the terms of their support for Clinton continuing in the race.

Even though Mrs. Clinton's supporters acknowledge that she faces a decidedly uphill battle against Mr. Obama -- he leads in delegates and in total votes -- there is no sign that party leaders will try to end the race by urging Mrs. Clinton to withdraw or urging uncommitted delegates to rally around Mr. Obama.

Mrs. Clinton's aides said they could see no circumstance in which she would withdraw unless she lost Pennsylvania on April 22. Two senior advisers and one close ally said they would urge her to quit the race if she lost Indiana two weeks later, on May 6.