Go Loudly Into The Night: Hillary Clinton is not quitting

ABC TV 13 "The Vote" ^ | March 30, 2008 | Tom Abrahams and Frank Polich

[2ndDivisionVet]

She's not going anywhere.

If her campaigning in Indiana this weekend, which doesn't vote until May, isn't enough of an indicator, then maybe this weekend's email from her husband will convince you.

Here's part of it:

Dear Tom,

Here's the most important thing you need to know about this race: it's neck-and-neck.

Only 130 delegates separate Hillary from Senator Obama -- and that's not counting Florida and Michigan. The difference in popular vote is less than 1 percent, and millions of voters have yet to make their voices heard. This election should be about their choice.

But now we're hearing people -- elected officials, party members, and Obama campaign surrogates -- call for Hillary to pull out.

With the race this close, it sure doesn't make sense to me that she'd leave now -- does it make sense to you?

The email was titled "Not Big On Quitting". And it continued (after asking for money):

At this critical moment, all of us supporting Hillary must make sure we are just as focused as she is. With all the talk of the state of the race, all the people telling her she should just give up, you and I must make sure she has everything she needs to stay in this race.

That's not the only place you'll find this sentiment.

Type "Clinton quit" into Google and you'll find 610,000 hits.

There's an article from Reuters.

There's another one from CNN.com, and also from The Times Of India

And here's an interesting write-up from Capitolhillblue.com, in which the author contends that it's the Clinton ego that won't allow Hillary to quit. He writes:

Anyone who thinks the Clintons will give up at this point doesn't understand the monumental ego of the couple or their desire to fulfill their own ambitions at any cost.

That ego dictates that their wishes and their wishes alone guide their destiny even if those wishes destroy their party and cost Democrats a chance to recapture the White House.

The Democratic Party Chair (and former presidential candidate) Howard Dean says he wants this race concluded by July 1 if not sooner.

The final primaries for the Democrats are on June 3rd, when Montana and South Dakota voters cast their ballots. So Dean's deadline is somewhat arbitrary, in that he's admitting the primaries won't produce a winner without the help of the superdelegates.

He just wants to avoid a nasty convention.

Some will say (and have commented on this blog) that a prolonged battle is good for the eventual winner. They contend that whatever dirt exists will be out and long cleaned up by the time the nominee faces presumptive GOP nominee John McCain. Maybe.

But if the party's chairman wants this finished before the possibility of a brokered convention becomes a reality in late August, then something tells me one of the two candidates will be forced to quit at some point. And that means even party faithful fear an overly prolonged nomination battle.

Now may not be the time for Clinton to hang it up...

She has a big lead in PA. She could win NC and Indiana in early May...

It could be a virtual tie...with Barack Obama having just a slight delegate lead.

But who wants to be the one to ask Obama to quit?

Either way this is a conversation that will only get louder.

And nobody will go quietly into the night...

Thanks for reading.

[2ndDivisionVet]

Operation Chaos picking up more speed, it seems...

[Slump Tester]

Heh-heh! Don’t you love it?

[2ndDivisionVet]

Many here at FR think that Rush is playing with fire, but with the Bosnia and now Watergate ommittee scandals, Hillary wouldn’t have a prayer in the general election, so keeping this going weakens Obama, as it must.

[Jess Kitting]

This is confusing. Where does the “letter” end and the commentary begin?

[supremedoctrine]

The Dem Establishment is making a HUGE mistake.
I knew they were stupid, but this is positively
suicidal-—they are so overestimating Obama’s chances to
secure the nomination AND WIN OVER MC CAIN, that they’re
wantonly dumping all over Hillary.
HILLARY WILL BE THE NOMINEE BEFORE LONG.
I have been saying this since the first surge of
the Obama Phenomenon, when he started to “pull ahead”.
The bloom will continue coming off the Obama rose in the coming weeks——and then they’ll come to their senses and Hillary will be the nominee.And she WILL stand a better chance of giving McCain a run for his money than Obama will. And IF SHE IS ELECTED SHE WILL REMEMBER ALL THOSE FORMER ALLIES WHO ONCE THOUGHT HE AND BILL WERE “JUST ABOUT IT”,and who are now dumping on her, and think they’re “backing a winner” and it WON’T BE PLEASANT FOR THEM TO BE IN THE
DEM PARTY.They are so confident Obama could win the Presidency they want Hillary to simply “get out of his way”. Man, are they gonna regret it. But luckily for them, ONLY is Hillary is elected President. And that, happily, won’t happen for her, and it won’t happen for Obama.

[river rat]

Be careful .......one can not overstate the stupidity of the American electorate...

Look at the final three stooges the electorate selected for show and tell!

Any one of the three can and WILL become president - unless the nation comes to its senses and pulls an upset of the status quo at the conventions.....

[Names Ash Housewares]

Hellary will not quit because she would like to run in 2012 if she can’t be the nominee this time.

Staying in until the end has no downside.
She either wins a longshot, or hurts Obama so he will lose against McCain. Then she can run in 2012.

She is in this until the end. Bank on it.

[Bernard]

The sad part is that only one of the candidates has to lose.

Along with that, Howard Dean's leadership in this "crisis" seems to be a very clear indication of how he would have performed as President. Flounder is supposed to be a fish, not a political game plan.

[AmericanInTokyo]

She is going to end up like Kitty Dukakis--drinking under the sink all kinds of "homemade cocktails", I predict, after the dust settles and she watches the nomination, something she has salivated over for 20 years, torn from her over-entitled fingers.

But I also have news for you folks. She will be BACK. She will try in 2012. She will try in 2016. She will try in 2020. With these people it is sheerly pathological.

Bill and Hillary. Both meglomaniacal sociopaths, denied power once again.

[Son House]

Yep, race-bait-n-switch Wright has soured Obama, and Clinton is still within 150 votes.

[johnny7]

Bottom line... race trumps gender on the DNC plantation.

[RichBruer]

Obama will win the nomination and lose to McCain in the general,,,, big time!!

[bill1952]

Hillary wouldn’t have a prayer in the general election, so keeping this going weakens Obama, as it must.

Respectively diagree with all of that.

Hillary will roll over any GOP nom like a steamroller, and Obama is the very weakest nominee that the dem party could find anywhere.

Milliions of dem voters simply will not vote for him under any circumstance.
If the GOP cannot defeat an Obama, it cannot defeat my cat, and if anyone here thinks that we have a prayer of defeating Hilarry Clinton, then they epitimze whistling past the graveyard.

Ours. Hillary v McCain = 30 state GOP loss.

PS there are so many “proxy errors” that I am surprised that anyone posts anymore at all. - Thanks.

[Vigilanteman]

Yep. I'm looking at the remaining contests and figure the witch will come out with a 120-130 delegate edge. She is going to win two of the remaining three big states (Pennsylvania and Indiana). Obama is going to win North Carolina plus small states like South Dakota and Montana. He currently has a 150 delegate lead. This will be cut to 20-30 delegates by the end of the primary season. That isn't mutch, considering there are close to 800 super delegates.

How can I confidently predict this outcome? I'll credit the Freeper who came up with this novel theory which has, so far, proved spot on:

1. Obama will win the states where blacks are a clear majority of Democrat voters or such a small part of the state's voters that there are no racial tensions.

2. Hillary will win the states where blacks are a large enough group that racial tensions exist, but nowhere near large enough to dominate Democrat politics.

So far, the only place this template has even come close to being wrong is New Hampshire. But I'd argue it is a special case where it still applies because it has become an extension of Massachusetts or because Hillary has a sudden surge in sympathy voters due to the crying incident.

[grey_whiskers]

"Rage, Rage, against the lying Rev'rend Wright"

Cheers!

[jersey117]

Hillary will roll over any GOP nom like a steamroller, and Obama is the very weakest nominee that the dem party could find anywhere.

I comletely agree. We finally have the chance to get rid of BOTH Clintons once and for all.

[NoGrayZone]

[Ann Archy]

Rush needs to tell people to now start voting for Obama.....I want to see her get beat by the weak black guy.

[Old Teufel Hunden]

I comletely agree. We finally have the chance to get rid of BOTH Clintons once and for all.

Sorry to burst the bubble but that's not going to happen. Hitlery is either going to get the nomination this year (doubtful) or keep this thing going and so weaken Obama that McCain wins easily (by more than 5 points nationally) and she makes the case that the Dumbocratic party screwed up by selecting Obama and she has a mandate to run in 2012. 2012 could be another open primary because McCain will be closing in on 76 at that time and choose not to run again. She will only be 64 and still young enough to be a viable presidential candidate. In the meantime, my fear is she becomes the leader of the Senate.

[SilvieWaldorfMD]

BILL CLINTON’S AGENDA IN PUERTO RICO - SUN., 4/6 TO MON. 4/7 —

http://www.elnuevodia.com/diario/noticia/politica/noticias/cargada_agenda_en_la_isla/386220

P.R. Manufacturers Association Conference - Condado Plaza Hotel - Sun., 4/6 at 7:00 p.m.

Inauguration Hermanos Melendez Hospital, Bayamon, Mon., 4/7

Public appearance at Universidad del Turabo, Barceloneta, Mon., 4/7

Meeting with 16 Mayors (unknown) at some point on Mon., 4/7

Meeting at the Puerto Rico Capitol Building to unveil a statue of FDR (still in the planning stages)

Fundraisers for Hillary on Sunday & Monday

Bus tour around the Island campaigning for Hillary

[Lizavetta]

Did anyone listen to her April Fool's Day bowling "joke"?

The most painful thing you'll ever hear in your life. Pun-riddled and unfunny, and her delivery has the spontaneity of a bag of rocks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heK_urTMtlg

[bill1952]

Sorry to burst the bubble ...

No. Anytime that the country sees the clintons smacked down by a black nobody, they will forget them like yesterday’s news.

Just ask Gore, Kerry or Dean.
Not running strong now are they?

[T. Rustin Noone]

What will happen is that the super delegates will NEVER “align” themselves after the June conclusions to the primary season as Dr. Dean suggests. Their power to influence the outcome and to garner influence in the upcoming Democrat administration is multiplied by NOT committing themselves until the last possible moment (read: the best offer for a position in the future administration comes down).

The person who holds a great hand right now is John Edwards. As we get closer to the convention, his 23+ delegates loom large in the calculus of securing the nomination. Look for him to hold out his delegates in return for an AG offer.

[Old Teufel Hunden]

I respectfully disagree. The Clintons are not like Gore or Kerry. They are more like the plague. They may be dormant for a while, but they will be back...

[bill1952]

I hear you guy, and I agree with you that they will probably never just “fade away.”

But it is still important, IMO, to stamp them down whenever possible.

Heck, if we don't, they will be in power forever.
The current state of affairs, with a leftist black nobody acquiring the golden ability to run against, and beat Clinton Inc, in their own party is nothing short of a miracle, and it caught me flat footed.

The only parallel in modern history might be Carter's defeat of Ted Kennedy. - Which effectively put an end to his future aspirations to the executive.
And we all know what happened to Carter. - thank God.

But, as a friend used to say, “when opportunity knocks, break down the door!”

Thank you for your post - bill