Thomas Schaller: Is Clinton the Last to Know It's Over?

[marmar]

from The American Prospect:



Is Clinton the Last to Know It's Over?

Though Clinton and Obama each technically won a state yesterday, the results clearly favored Obama. The question now is whether Clinton can see the increasingly obvious end of her campaign.

Thomas F. Schaller | May 7, 2008 | web only




At least for one more day the titanic and seemingly interminable Democratic primary continues, and only one person in America can bring it to an end: Hillary Clinton.

Barack Obama coupled a solid, double-digit win in North Carolina with a narrow defeat in Indiana to stall the momentum Hillary Clinton showed in the 11 weeks since Obama's last significant win. "We now know who the Democratic nominee is going to be," NBC's Tim Russert declared shortly after midnight, as the late numbers trickling in from Gary-based Lake County in the northwestern corner of Indiana reduced Clinton's victory margin in the Hoosier State to around 20,000 votes. It is a testament to how much the complex mix of expectations, performance, and spin figure in this contest that a proclamation by the dean of televised punditry matters more than the potential endorsements of the nearly 300 undeclared Democratic superdelegates.

The crucial question is whether Russert's "we" includes the New York senator and her top campaign advisers. Does Hillary Clinton know who the Democratic nominee is going to be?

***

Depending on the answer, her campaign moves next toward one of two possible scenarios.

The Hillary Clinton of Scenario 1 will, at some point during the next 72 hours, recognize and accept that, despite a truly impressive run since Obama's Feb. 19 victory in Wisconsin, she cannot possibly climb out of the delegate hole she dug for herself early on. This Clinton spoke to supporters in Indianapolis last night using language that hinted the beginning of the end was near.

"So this journey that we're on together is one that has been a blessing for me, because I know what this country has meant to me and I know what it still means to all of you," she said. "It is now our responsibility to ensure that it will always mean the same for our children and our grandchildren. I will never give up on you and on your families and on your dreams and on your future." .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=is_clinton_the_last_to_know_its_over