Hillary's still in

Sorry I didn't get to discussing the March 4th primaries right away. I've been pretty busy, and I haven't had as much time as I'd like for blogging.

As I'm sure you all know, Bill Clinton said that his wife had to win Texas and Ohio in order to take the nomination. She did, which keeps her in the race against Obama, even though he still has more delegates than she does, and even though he's expected to do well in Mississippi and Wyoming, and Pennsylvania is close. In the meantime, John McCain finally gathered enough delegates to be the presumptive nominee for the Republican party.

This is bad for the Democrats, because McCain, now free of his rivalry with Mike Huckabee, can begin campaigning for President, while Obama and Hillary are still stuck campaigning against each other. I'm the only one who has come to this conclusion, either. There have been many calls for Hillary to bow out from people who claim that she has no hope of winning, even though the race is still very close. Johnathan Alter, of Newsweek, has written an article where he claims to have "done the math" and reasoned that Hillary Clinton can't win, even in the most unlikely circumstances. (See the article here.)

As much as I'd be thrilled to see Hillary bow out, and as much as I think that it would be the best move, politically, for her to do so, I can understand why she's staying in the race. She has devoted an awful lot of time and money, some of it her own, to her bid for President. She's got to want it badly, and she's got to feel that she still has a chance – especially if she can get the delegates from Florida and Michigan admitted, or sway superdelegates her way, in spite of the popular vote. (Never mind how bad for the party this would be.) She probably doesn't even feel that she's hurting the Democratic party's chances of making it to the White House by fighting on while John McCain runs unopposed, since she's probably of the opinion that she's more electable than Barack Obama.

The question is – How far will she go? And how much damage will it do?

Politically Expedient

A graceful exit from the race ASAP would benefit Hillary Clinton, because it would be seen as a monumental sacrifice on her part for the good of the party. The goodwill that she would earn, even among people who have been previously opposed to her, would give her all kinds of political capital that she could use to increase her power in Washington. Hillary Clinton isn't cut out to be President, but she's an amazing senator.

On the other hand, she takes an enormous risk by staying in the race; if Obama becomes the nominee and loses the election, Hillary Clinton would be blamed, and the entire party, many of whom are not particularly enamored with her in the first place, would take up the torches and pitchforks. The rage that much of the party has directed against Ralph Nader would look like minor irritation compared to the way that she would be attacked by her own party. Crucified would be the wrong word for it, since that implies a certain amount of martyrdom, so I'll risk being asked to turn in my feminist card and choose the metaphor 'burned at the stake'. Either way, her career in politics would be in shambles at the very least.

The numbers are against her, and the risk of staying in the race is enormous. I can see why Hillary Clinton doesn't drop out, but if she were wise, she would.