There had been some talk in isolated circles that Hillary Clinton should seriously consider gracefully bowing out of the presidential race before this week, but the past several days saw the discussion reach an entirely new level. Leading Dems, most notably Pat Leahy and Chris Dodd, have grown increasingly blunt, while many others have grown increasingly impatient.
Hoping to tamp down this talk before it becomes too distracting, Hillary Clinton vowed to take her efforts to Denver, whether the party likes it or not.
In her most definitive comments to date on the subject, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton sought Saturday to put to rest any notion that she will drop out of the presidential race, pledging in an interview to not only compete in all the remaining primaries but also continue until there is a resolution of the disqualified results in Florida and Michigan.
A day after Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean urged the candidates to end the race by July 1, Clinton defied that call by declaring that she will take her campaign all the way to the Aug. 25-28 convention if necessary, potentially setting up the prolonged and divisive contest that party leaders are increasingly anxious to avoid.
“I know there are some people who want to shut this down and I think they are wrong,” Clinton said in an interview during a campaign stop here Saturday. “I have no intention of stopping until we finish what we started and until we see what happens in the next 10 contests and until we resolve Florida and Michigan. And if we don’t resolve it, we’ll resolve it at the convention — that’s what credentials committees are for.”
Asked specifically, if there was any scenario in which she would withdraw before the primaries end on June 3, Clinton said no. “I am committed to competing everywhere that there is an election,” she said.
Clinton was also asked whether she believes Obama can win in November, but she dodged, instead arguing that she has “a better chance,” because “women will turn out for me.”
So, does this mean we should settle in for another five full months of Democratic infighting, while John McCain and the GOP begin implementing a general-election strategy? Maybe.
Josh Marshall highlights the key part of Clinton’s pitch: it’s all about Florida and Michigan.
[S]he’s promising to remain in the race at least until June 3rd when the final contests are held in Montana and South Dakota and until Florida and Michigan are ‘resolved’. Now, that can have no other meaning than resolved on terms the Clinton campaign finds acceptable. It can’t mean anything else since, of course, at least officially, for the Democratic National Committee, it is resolved. The penalty was the resolution.
The Obama campaign has always been willing to ‘resolve’ the matter by splitting those states’ delegates down the middle. But of course that’s something the Clinton campaign can never accept since splitting them down the middle is the same as not counting them at all. It leaves both campaigns right where they started, i.e., with him ahead and her behind.
That leaves two real possibilities: seat the non-sanctioned January primary delegates or hold the primaries again, a revote.
The only way the first option happens is if Obama cruises in the 10 remaining contests, and Florida’s and Michigan’s results from January would no longer tilt the scales. As for the second option, the logistical window seems to have just about closed, making re-votes highly unlikely — and making Clinton’s drive for a convention fight five months from now all the more certain, even if she trails among pledged delegates, popular votes, and states.
For his part, Obama isn’t urging Clinton to drop out, instead telling reporters yesterday that Clinton should stay in the race “as long as she wants.”
For the record, I’m quite certain Clinton isn’t bluffing. This doesn’t appear to be one of those instances in which a candidate vows to compete until hell freezes over, and then suddenly withdraws a few days later (I’m looking at you, John Edwards). Clinton appears to mean it.
Which means if Democrats want to end this nomination fight and get ready for the general election, party leaders are going to have to intervene. About 800 superdelegates are waking up this morning and learning that Hillary Clinton wants this fight to go on for another five months, no matter what happens in any contest between now and June. If they’re with that prospect, they can sit on the sidelines, watch the fighting play out, and hope for the party will figure out a way to win an eight-week general election campaign in the fall.
Or they can decide they’re not satisfied with five more months of intra-party warfare, endorse Obama publicly, and take control of the process. It’s really up to them.