That's fine - I really don't have too much of a problem with her staying in until the end of May or so if she stops the negative stuff against Obama. If she can keep to the high ground, by all means, go for it, get her two wins in WV and Kentucky, and then make a graceful exit. However, if she persists in the dirty, nasty, underhanded race-baiting and character attacks, someone better read her the riot act, and the supers better start declaring.

Kos had an interesting post about the myth of Clinton's statements that's Obama only wins in states where he gets the AA vote - Obama picked up a majority in a number of other demographics that she considers her "base". I think his coalition is very strong going forward and I'm sure he will work very diligently to improve in his weaker areas.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/7/155114/3294/352/511193

she's like a blackjack gambling addict, broke but still trying to win it all back, by hook or crook (or borrow), all that she lost.

A propos of nothing except that he was mentioned in this story, can I just say that my estimation of Rep Clay has grown enormously over the course of this presidential race. Clay became a congressman when his father Rep Bill Clay retired from office. I was never much impressed by Bill Clay, who seemed always more concerned about Bill Clay than about the district that he represented. Lacy Clay rode into office on his father's coat-tails, so I expected more of the same, but was pleasantly surprised to find instead a capable and concerned representative for his district.

This race, however, has shown him also to be an electoral genius. I went to Obama volunteer training sessions where Lacy Clay told us exactly what to do in which neighborhoods and when, and I will be damned if his advice was not pure gold. The local black newspaper, the St Louis American later did a story (after Super Tues was over) detailing missions that Clay conducted secretly to all sorts of movers and shakers in the democratic party in this state that helped to put us over the top.

Clearly, this man is a great person to have on our side. I can guarantee that he is, if not singlehandedly responsible, at least largely to credit for Obama's primary victory in this state. When Obama leads our party to a victory in November, we will have Rep Clay (in large measure) to thank for flipping MO blue.

She needs to stay in it until after West Virginia and Kentucky. We don't need another embarrassment like when Paul Tsongas beat Bill in Connecticut after he'd already dropped out of the race.

HRC has lost respect among many of her former supporters, myself included. Two big issues: (1) she had no campaign strategy despite paying enormous bucks to big egos to deliver one, letting herself, the candidate with more early money and more institutional support, get outmaneuvered in every February caucus state; and (2) in order to recover, she went negative quickly and completely, and she kept pounding long after she had any reasonable hope.

If she's staying in it even another day, she needs to strike a positive and unifying chord. But, let's face it, this campaign has already rotted on the vine. She should have been out a long time ago.

yes hillary clinton..CONGRESS BACK U UP...YES THAT IS A GOOD NEW... YOU ARE GOING TO BE OUR NEXT PRESIDENT FOR SURE HILLARY CLINTON....
HILLARY CLINTON IS VERY STRONG...FIGHTING... WILL BEAT MCCAIN..
B.O CANT..HE HAS A BAD BACKGROUND LIKE PASTOR

Just finished watching the last part of CNN's webcast of Hillary speaking in Washington. A few interesting points, BUT --she refered to Bill wrapping up the nomination in June, and then awkward made a reference to Bobby Kennedy after his California win? WTF? She's staying in the race in case something happens to Obama? Wha?

Anyone else see it? What was that about?

Can't we all just get along?

The truth hurts…in this case Hillary.
She thought she could get people to believe that Bush would sign off on a windfall tax for big oil for this summer. (laughable) Next we are to believe that the 70 delegates that Mich. & Fla. would yield would change the leader in the count. Her work is for the little people & not for the 11 million dollar donor. Her BS is weak and over.

Make it fast, make it clean....finish it, Hillary....clear out.

M

I think Obama is unqualified and this lockstep verbage against her only makes me dislike Obama more. I don't see myself voting for him even though I am a lifelong democrat and a liberal. I never have seen such vitriol aimed against a fellow democrat and Hillary Clinton does not deserve this slander.

In a few years, if he is elected, he will be another Jimmy Carter. If not, he's Dukakis. Either way, slandering Hillary doesn't make him qualified.

I think she should stay in. However I think Barack is now on the verge of presumptive nominee level as the only arguments for overturning this thing were pretty much disassembled (as Johnny 5 would say) last night so I agree that she should focus on her strengths and drop the "his weaknesses" angle.

If she dose that I don't care how long she stays in. Then if she managed to win the remaining contests by a large margin and caught up to get the nomination she may even wipe out the gag reflex I would have to swallow to vote for her in November.

I'm not sure Clinton can count on this as a valid "endorsement" - this from the Politico:

UPDATE: Ellsworth spokeswoman Liz Farrar emails to contest the original report I linked. Ellsworth will endorse the winner of his district, he says in a statement, "unless there is a compelling reason to do otherwise."

Which is something short of an endorsement.

Sounds like it's not quite an endorsement and like Ellsworth is playing it safe for now. So the superdelegate pickup for today may be Obama 4 Clinton 0 depending on how the MSM interpret this non-endorsement endorsement.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/

fuck it. Who gives a rat's ass what she does? Let her stay until November, she only makes herself more of a joke than she already is. How much damage can she do in two more weeks?

It's over. Hillary has now moved from being the Black Knight to Agent Smith in the final moments of The Matrix, uselessly continuing his fight with Neo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGHX-ALuYMg&feature=related

The fat lady is so singing right now. Makes no difference if Clinton hears her or not.

Next up McCain and Obama in Thunderdome.

Two men enter, one man leaves
Two men enter, one man leaves...

I dont mind her hangin until May 20. Oh as for Marsh last I heard she was calling somebody in Port Au Prince about a pinable toy...

Common ground!

Mark Shields says that she should be allowed to stay in the race because it's such a painful thing for her to have to give up her aspirations.

I want to see the Clintons endure as much pain as I can for as long as they want me to witness their humiliation

What Hillary doesn't seem to understand or appreciate is that endurance doesn't necessarily equal strength. Sometimes the better part of valor is knowing when the battle's over and you've lost. It's time for her to face the facts, smell the coffee, and do what's best for the Democrats: Get out.

"My conversations with people on the Hill today suggest that there's actually something of a sense of relief among Hill staffers about yesterday's results".

Greg, I live a continent away from D.C., yet didn't need to engage in conversation with "Hill staffers" to reach that same conclusion. Get out of the bubble, man, if only for a short spell. Before it engulfs you.

Cilizza:

"She is the Japanese soldier in the Pacific island that hasn't been told the war is over," said Democratic pollster John Anzalone. "Occasionally she picks off a few islanders and considers it a victory. Well, yesterday she found out the war was over."

Seppuku - that's the ticket!

Andrea Mitchell on Hardball this afternoon pointed out that Hillary has now loaned her campaign $11.5 million - that exhausts the money she made from her book and her Senate salary.

I, for one, will be pissed if Obama agrees to pay off her debt when she drops out. If I wanted my money to go to Mark Penn's danish stipend, I would have supported Hillary in the first place.

I think our super delegates are the most guttless people on Earth. You hear about party insiders (read: super delegates) beginning to put pressure on her to quit.

Well, man/woman-up and cast your lot with Hillary or Obama, super delegates! If 200 of you come out and give your support to Obama then it's over. Right? Hillary would be forced to quit. Why are you insisting that Hillary quit to make your lives easier?

You are super delegates for a reason. You were given this responsibility to protect the party, remember? That was the whole concept behind the super delegate! You have the power to save the party. Get off your spineless butts and give us a nominee.

They won't do it, though.

And we wonder why our party hasn't stood up to Bush since the 2006 election?

i want to believe in the consensus hope/theory that she will wind this thing down in a sensible way. but liam's reality check has the ring of truth. i have very little confidence in her. there was this moment in the cleveland debate when russert brought up farrakhan where i thought she was going to come to obama's defense, my heart softened, and then she attacked. don't trust her as far as i can kick her.

Obama took the day off again.

He is probably thinking oh crap, I am stuck with all these problems and these people actually think I can solve them.

Good luck with that.

Just remember, the wall of trash being spewed at Hillary, her staff and us her supporters will not be forgotten. Gratious winners you Obama supporters are certainly not.

Keep fighting Hillary! Let the electoral process work the way it was meant to. Don't bow down to these people. Fight for what you believe. We are still with you.

The people at TPM have been carrying water or the Obama campaign for weeks. That's why the sneering words describing Hillary's gaffes and misques have never been leveled at the other side. The fact Josh and Greg and company have bought on is obvious from the tone of their remarks in Hillary's case and lack of observations in the other case. Not condemning them though just observing and noting. The condemnation will come if they look back and patronize me... for the sake of the party.

I think we are due a bit of gloating. I mean it was a Hillary supporter who questioned Obama's balls. So I don't think Clinton supporters can start playing the victims.

MSNBC estimated the Clintons owe well over $20 million now. I think there needs to be a cut off on how many self-loans Obama will pay back for them.

This is the defining moment for Hillary, what she does in the next several weeks will determine the rest of her political future. Not to mention her actions in the coming days will reflect the content of her character. Also, how all the democrats handle this issue, including the ones posting on this blog, will help to define the democratic party as a whole. We can either continue to fight like school children or act like adults and unite our party. Otherwise we don't have a chance, no matter who gets the nomination.

SHA NA NA SAY HEY HEY GOODBYE!!!AND GOOD RIDDANCE TO THE IRON ***** AND THAT TROLL GOATLIFE!!!

I hope she won't drop out before Oregon. This makes the 50-state strategy a strong one.

All the people in the upcoming states can feel that they too participated and people will turn out in the GE because they will be invested in the nominee.

The only thing is -- I hope she runs a issue based campaign and not the kitchen sink campaign.

oh, and how did the international markets react to the news that Obama is the likely nominee? The US dollar dropped 6%, the biggest one day fall since 1973.

I mean, let's face it, Vince Foster had come to see things a little bit too clearly. Isn't it apparent, considering what has occurred over the past three months?

Is it extortion?

As in, "I'm going to stay in the race and turn up the heat and keep on damaging you until you agree to retire my campaign debt"?

Hey guys - I'll see y'all in about a week - I'm off to Taos to get my house ready for summer.

Not taking the laptop so I'll see y'all next week!

My post about was in reply to HRC, not Tena...have a great time in Taos, Tena. Have some of that great northern New Mexican cuisine while your there. I am envious.