What happens if Senator Clinton loses PA?

[Cooley Hurd]

As unlikely as it may seem now, what should be her next move? Suspend her campaign? Move forward as if it never happened? PLEASE understand this is NOT meant to be flamebaiting. It's an honest question.

[Red Zelda]

1. Rendell loses his next job?

[noel711]

5. I betcha Rendell has no political future

no matter who wins PA....

Rendell... is on his last legs.

[charlie and algernon]

21. he's been saying that this is his last job, last term

he's done, a lame duck

[BumRushDaShow]

42. Specter's seat is up in 2010.

I've always felt that Fast Eddie would consider going for it and he would have a good chance of actually getting it too. However after his disgraceful conduct this primary season, the irony would be that the overwhelming AA support that helped to make him governor and that has kept Specter in office (yes African-Americans in Philly actually pulled that repuke lever for Specter), would end up keeping Specter in. :puke:

God we need some miraculously popular REAL Democrat to run against Specter so we can have 2 Dems finally.

[dkf]

2. She is finding any excuse to stay in.

I'm sure she will find another one if PA doesn't go her way.

Forget trying to find her exit point. It doesn't exist.

[Cooley Hurd]

3. But the odds of her winning the nom drop dramatically...

...perhaps to decimal points. The odds, as of now, are pretty long.

[dkf]

17. Exactly...the odds are long now and she's still making it sound

like PA is only the beginning.

Hillary isn't very good at math. She would be a very very very bad gambler. I think she can't calculate odds very well or is simply too bullheaded to recognize the reality she faces...a very dangerous characteristic in a President, might I add.

[C_U_L8R]

4. Well she can't move the goalposts to NC

Obama's got her boxed in.
He is playing a 3D chess game ten moves ahead.

[MethuenProgressive]

6. Edwards will endorse Obama.

John is all about really safe moves.

[greguganus]

7. PA will be dead to her. n/t

[Eurobabe]

27. Good answer. Don't forget Puerto Rico!!

:rofl:

[WillyT]

8. You Will See More And More Super Delegates Moving To Obama...

and publicly endorsing him.

:shrug:

[Cooley Hurd]

12. So PA is her "Little Big Horn" so to speak?

That's what I'm trying to gauge with this post. TX & OH were her firewalls, and one of them went up in smoke.

[WillyT]

22. It's Lookin That Way...

This thing will be decided fairly soon. No way it's goin all the way to Denver.

:hi:

[jobycom]

9. Then the campaign is over, really.

As it stands now, Obama brainwashing aside, the race is still very much up for grabs. Obama has a lead in pledged delegates, but the polls show a close race nationwide, and Obama has gotten most of his edge from winning caucuses, which favor him dramatically and historically have discriminated against Clinton's core supporters. Because of that, she can make a plausible argument that the "popular" vote really doesn't represent the will of the voters. She can point to Washington and Texas as examples, where the states held both a primary and a caucus, as examples of how disproportionate caucuses are from primaries.

If she loses Pennsylvania, though, it's a statement that it's over. Penn is a primary state, and one where she is expected to win. She won't have gained the delegates she's hoping to gain. She'd be out of good arguments--and by good I don't mean arguments Obama supporters would agree with, since they wouldn't agree with anything that made their candidate look like less than a divine being. I mean arguments that an objective observer would agree with.

After that, if she continues, she'll just be a minor story, and Obama will be considered the likely nominee. Clinton is already fighting half her party, the media, the Republicans, and the history of lies told to smear her and her husband for the last two decades. It's amazing she's even in this race. One more blow and she's out, whether her legs stop twitching or not.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

10. I think it will be the end of the line.

It's also highly unlikely to actually happen.

[bigtree]

11. supers would bail in droves

you do the math

[CitizenLeft]

13. she will concentrate on IN , KY & WV...

...I don't think she will drop out until / unless she loses one or more of those too (and I forget which order those are in...)

[Blue-Jay]

14. "Meet me in Indiana!"

[Unsane]

15. Meet me in Puerto Rico, Barack Obama!

[PBS Poll-435]

16. She will look really, really hard

to find it?

:shrug::shrug:

[ecdab]

18. She'll drop out.

Her fund raising will dry up completely, her arguments about big blue states will collapse, her incredibly remote chance of winning the popular vote will disappear completely, super delegates will abandon her faster than swamp rats fleeing the sound of a shot gun blast - in short, the campaign will be over in a complete and total fashion for her.

I think the large shift in the PA polls may reflect that many undecided PA voters, that just want the race to be over, have come to understand that if enough of them vote for Obama, the Democratic party will get to focus on McCain and the Republicans running for the Senate and the House. I would expect the undecideds in PA to break very heavily for Obama for this reason - but I don't have a crystal ball, so I'll watch and find out.

[JVS]

19. There will be great rejoicing

[4themind]

28. And great gnashing of teeth

on their side

[panAmerican]

20. I believe 100% that Clinton will win PA even though...

*** Her campaign lowered expectations.

*** Corzine, who up until now was one of her strongest supporters, now claims the right to change his mind about her.

*** Obama's poll numbers are holding up.

*** Mark Penn got caught working on a NAFTA-like deal

*** Clinton tax returns show far more wealth accumulation than anticipated

She may not trounce Obama, but she can pull it off. Of course I would like Obama's campaign to win this one, and convincingly, but as someone who has visited and vacationed in PA numerous times, I think the demographics are in her favor, and the inclination of those voters will not be swayed by these "late-breaking" developments.

[Hepburn]

23. She could hurl her book bag across the room? n/t

[Zachstar]

24. Many supers will likely call her and give her a chance to exit before they declare for Obama

I just don't see them wanting this to continue for too much longer afterwards. And an early switch might lower the chance that she will try to stay in to the convention.

[PoliticalAmazon]

25. She'll blame it on someone or something else. n/t

[hedgehog]

26. She'll hurl her bookbag across the room!

[Warren DeMontague]

29. If she were really to lose PA, I would think she would have to get out.

I could be wrong, but at that point I think someone in her circle would tell her it's time to stop.

[IDemo]

30. PA will drop off the matters map

[baldguy]

31. Yeah, only the "big" states really count.

You know - the ones she's won. Like Florida and Michigan.

[SoxFan]

32. Something resembling a combination of

[DemVet]

33. Hillary? Lose PA? Not gonna happen!

[Warren Stupidity]

34. The goal post was she had to win big.

That has now shifted to she has to win. Soon it will be Obama has to win big. Although the Clinton campaign terminated over the Bosnian Delusion, and has been running on Dead ever since, it shows no signs of actually officially terminating.

[anonymous171]

35. PUERTO RICO HERE WE COME!

[Vinca]

36. Well, right off the bat we'll know that Pennsylvania doesn't count.

I predict she would continue on to the next state that won't count, North Carolina. Reminds me of a case of poison oak I had - it just didn't want to go away.

[BlooInBloo]

37. Bam.

[greguganus]

38. She'll call in a fake sniper attack and change the results while everyone is running. n/t

[dchill]

39. I'm tellin' ya, the goalposts...

are moving to Guam.

[ORDem]

40. Unless she wins by double digits (still very possible) I think she's

in a real financial crisis. The money is already just about dried up, unless she wants to self-fund. With a squeaker win she picks up so few delegates it's really not worth going on. The delegate math just gets worse for her with every subsequent primary. She needs virtually the same number but there are fewer contests from which to get them. She really blew it by not having a post-Feb. 5th strategy.

[phrigndumass]

41. She'll have a chance, if she can only win in GUAM!

Guam will be the decider. Mark my words. And Poland, let's not forget Poland.

Does Colombia have any delegates or supers? She might have a chance there, too.