Is Clinton Looking For An "I Told You So" Moment?

Mother Jones:

Why is Hillary Clinton still in the race?

Ever since she failed to cream Barack Obama in Indiana, pundits and analysts have been chewing this over--and now that the West Virginia primary is done, even though she won by a massive two-to-one margin, the question still hovers. After all, Obama has racked up an insurmountable lead in pledged delegates and has pulled ahead in the superdelegate count, meaning the race is essentially complete. Clinton and her campaign advisers have argued that she can still win the nomination if she does well in the last few primaries and then persuades superdelegates she is the better candidate to do battle with John McCain. But the superdelegates don't seem receptive to her case. And the fact that she has throttled back on the anti-Obama rhetoric in recent days--she barely she criticized her in her not-so-jubilant West Virginia victory speech--is a signal that she may not believe her own spin and is merely halfheartedly trudging toward the last primaries (Montana and South Dakota) on June 3.

Yet there she is--an active and hard-working candidate. And the commentators have come up with several obvious explanations:

* She wants to remain in the hunt just in case something happens. (A video appears of Wright calling for armed revolution? Fox News produces Obama's Secret Muslim Membership card?)

* She is staying in for one last round of fundraising. (Her campaign is $20 million in debt and owes her $11 million.)

* She wants to end her historic campaign with a string of victories: West Virginia, Kentucky, and Puerto Rico. (Puerto Rico? She is a senator from New York.)

* And the most obvious of them all: she's not yet ready to face the music.

Read the whole story: Mother Jones

Comments

[truthyguy]

I watch Bill will his trademark biting of his lip with the smile and approving nod of anything and everything HRC says. And Hillary with her faux expression of surprise along with eyebrows raised , smiling and doing the point, point, clap, clap thing. It all such BS. I am fed up with their lies about all things big and small and their attitude of entitlement. If I never see or read about or hear of either of them again it will be a blessing. And that also goes for the little robot of a smart mouth daughter of theirs.

[rzan]

I actually kind of feel sorry for Chelsea. She is pretty much obliged to support her parents. They are her parents and she loves them. I think it is a shame that candidates include their offspring in campaiging actively for them. That goes for McCain's older daughter also.

[Mock38]

How does Hillary hide her 2012 agenda right up to Nov. 4?

It would have to be one of the all time great political con jobs in the history of the universe.

Almost certainly, however, this is her contingency plan...and she will do every thing she can to make it happen.

After Obama becomes the officail nominee, she will damn him with faint praise relentlessly until election day.

And if Obama loses, then in her mind, she is gold.

But if she can not pull the con job off, then a whole lot of unhappy Dem voters will not forget and will simply not support her in 2012.

[condew]

She better work hard for Obama, because if he loses, she owns that loss. There will be no shortage of Obama supporters to remind her of that every frikin day.

[conscioushope]

Hillary is such a sad, tragic figure.

She is becoming a parody of herself.

[01202009]

All I can figure is that West Virgina must have a very white, raciest population of inbred fools. Why else would these folks vote for a lost cause? This is a perfect reason to require that those eligible to vote have at least gone though the sixth grade.

[lisakaz2]

Hey, my dad barely went thru the 6th grade and he can figure this out! (He also likes Obama but he won't vote -- it's a Jehovah's Witness thing.)

[08timefortruth]

Gee I don't know why did the country vote for Bush twice........are you saying the whole country is inbred and thus stupid............thank goodness by your rules my 82 year old mother with an 8th grade education would still be able to vote for Obama but unfortunatly her 89 year old sister would not cause she did not finish grade school.

[meltingpot101]

These numbers are ugly. West Virginia is saturated with Hillary demographics. Hillary's speech was symbolic of her comittment to stay in the race til it's over. No suprise there. However this is the first time Hillary has said that both her and Obama want delegates from Fl. and MI sat. I think that is a significant change in her rhetoric.

Hopefully she will maitain this dimenure. A classy exit would be really beneficial.

The GOP is nervous, Travis Childers (dem) wins Mis tonight.
It's a new day.

[remc]

Good news about Childers, and that's the best news for Obama today. The GOP were linking them together.

[meltingpot101]

Yes, MIS. rejected the GOP's attempt at guilt by association. It's time for us to take this country back.

[Rumba]

I think the race can be boiled down to what kind of America do the people want? More of the same politics with lower ratings than the Bush administration? Or a brand new approach inspired by a new leader?
We have all seen what power obsession does to a person these last 15 months ....lies...deception...supported by a bunch of Baghdad Bobs constantly changing the goal posts in a frantic attempt to confuse the people.
I would also like to say that these last 15 months have shown the media in general to be a pathetic bunch of repetitive people who lack basic logic and are puppets to the latest cute phrases fed to them by email from hacks of both stripes.
As for West Virginia....wow...they believed the gas holiday rubbish.

[whizkid]

The general election will not be a caucus.

[meltingpot101]

Whe did they change it????

[verlaine]

Hillary's speech was a fraud just like her entire campaign. She couldn't care less about WV or the rest of the country. She knows this race is over. She's staying in it because of malice and hubris.
She wanted a coronation and can't accept the fact that Obama is beating her.

Hillary is drunk with delusions of grandeur and wants to go out in a blaze of glory like Jimmy Cagney in White Heat.

She's on a kamikaze mission to destroy Obama so that she can run in 2012.

The longer Hillary sticks around the more pathetic and repellant she becomes. While Obama is carrying himself like Jackie Robinson, Hillary is channeling Karl Rove, Lee Atwater, and George Wallace.

[08timefortruth]

I think she really believes she can force the superdelegates to support her and give her the nomination. I don't think we will see her gone until the supers declare for Obama in such a way that she finally sees there is no way she can win.

[lisakaz2]

Exactly. I think only when everyone declares he's got 2025 will she give up.

[Tariqahmed]

She is WASTING everything you can count.
Showoman.

OBAMA 08.

[jupitor]

So justs because w. virginia at 73% said they want to keep her in this race, means she gets to stay in?How about the rest of the states? Do they get a say? Isn't it time now for Dean, Polosi and the delegates to say no more? when does it end! give her a victory state so she can leave gracefully, and what does she do! Man what do you have to do to get rid of this lady.

[5thGenDem]

Well, we folks in Ohio had our say, as did PA and many other states won by Clinton. So if she "gets to stay," it's not just the folks in WV who "want to keep her in this race." You Obamans just can't get it through your heads that Clinton still has millions of supporters, so you'd better quit bad-mouthing her at every turn if you want our support in November. I like Obama, but he seems to have a lot of foul-mouthed mean-spirited followers.

[01202009]

Clinton was last year's news. If you're one of those old ladies with wide shoulderpads, I can understand your torment.

[GravitonX]

This proves conclusively that Hillary's continued presence is a negative.

[paganmist]

And Clinton has a lot of immature "we'll hold our vote hostage if you don't do as I say" followers.

[frosty6731]

Do whatever you want in November the burden is on you to make a good decision not on Obama supporters to do or say anything. Your vote is your vote, so if you care about who your president is and what political leadership our country has, make it an educated, smart vote. The burden is on YOU for your vote, not Obama supporters.

[PTTY]

No Rush and the Repugs kept her in. So are you trying to say you are part of the KKK Clan as they said in WV, BILL, HILLARY AND CHELSEA WERE A CLAN.

So what Clan do you belong to or what kind of Sheet do you hide behind? How many of Jesus Crosses have you burned?

So I guess you are part of Rev Wright's people he says are still Racist living in America. How Sad we look to the rest of the World.

How in the World can Hillary tell Bush to not to attend the Opening Ceremonies when she practices, preaches and loves The WV and Kentucky Racist.

[pupbayer]

Most recent numbers show 64% of Americans nationwide want her to stay in the race. That's everyone's say.

[08timefortruth]

Yes but not because they want her to win, even many Obama supporters said she should stay in the race if she chooses.

[donaldw6]

Many of Obama's supporters are too polite to tell her she should leave. I'm not one of those people, by the way.

[kylie]

Who and where are these "polls" being conducted--and with what agenda?

Sorry, but most Democrats seem to want Hillary to bow out gracefully.

The SD'S need to step up now, and allow Obama time to focus on McCain.

They would be helping Hillary, too.

The longer she stays in the race, the more Americans are becoming disenchanted with her "methods". This is not how most of us wanted to remember the Clintons and their "legacy".

[Lagniappe]

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Monday April 7, 2008
West Virginia can't seem to crack economic ceiling
West Virginia has never ranked higher than 44th
by Justin D. Anderson
Daily Mail Capitol Reporter
Since 1979, the state has never ranked higher than 44th in the nation when it comes to the income level of its average citizen.

For the last quarter-century, the state's per capita income has been ranked next to last among states with the exception of five years when it ranked 48th.

Last year the average West Virginian had income of $29,537, a 4.7 percent increase over the previous year, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.

That was $10,000 less than the national average.

[meltingpot101]

How sad. WV is beautiful though. During a road trip a couple of years ago I was so impressed with it's beauty that I entertained the idea of moving there. I looked up WV national standing for public schools. It was horrible, I don' remember exactly, but after that i knew I would never move there.

Makes sense why they would rank 44th in the nation for income level.