Let's End This Pleasantly, Sen. Clinton

April 3, 2008 Christina V. Mills Just weeks ago, Republicans were desperately pleading for Mike Huckabee to end his presidential campaign against John McCain after Mitt Romney dropped out.  It wasn’t that no one liked Huckabee. It was that the Republican Party realized when it was time to rally around one candidate in order to present a singular effort against the Democrats.  Huckabee remained in the race until McCain secured the nomination with the majority of delegates, as he was determined to promote his religious conservative message that McCain was practically ignoring.  Huckabee essentially said “shame on you” to the Republican Party for attempting to end the race before it was officially over (even though it had been over in just about every other way for about a month).   Yet, because of his extended stay, he felt like the unwelcome relative who had decided to stay for another week, practically killing any hope he may have had for a future run for president because people are just so sick of him. What happened to bowing out early to save face? And now, it seems as though America is feeling deja vu with the Democratic race.  While the difference in pledged delegates between Senators Obama and Clinton is nowhere near that between McCain and Huckabee, people are feeling as though the relative hasn’t left, yet again, but now is going to stay through to July. People have crunched the numbers.  If Hillary wins a vast majority of over 60 percent for every upcoming primary and caucus, and those from Michigan and Florida, she will win the nomination.  Yet of the six states in which one of the candidates received over 60 percent of the vote, Senator Obama won five (Illinois, Mississippi, Georgia, DC, and Virginia - Clinton won Arkansas). Even if no one wins enough pledged delegates to secure the nomination, by practically any method that the Democratic Party might use to divvy up its superdelegates, Obama would win.   If they decide to simply follow the popular vote by awarding superdelegates in a way that is proportionate to the number of pledged delegates, Obama would win.   If they decide to award superdelegates based on the number of states won, Obama would still win.  Obama has won more states total with 28, while Clinton has only won 16, and that’s generously including Michigan and Florida. And while Clinton currently has more superdelegates at 243 to Obama’s 212, Howard Dean has already made it abundantly clear that the Democratic Party would not want to disenfranchise its voters by overturning their votes.   Therefore, unless Clinton manages to win an enormous majority of votes from the remaining states, considering Obama’s momentum, she has little to no chance of winning. Since McCain has already had weeks of individual face time representing the Republican Party as the presumptive nominee, it would behoove the Democratic Party to do everything it can not to let this division of Democrats between Senators Obama and Clinton to continue for too long. I respect Senator Clinton's resolve to continue to promote her message (that is really very little different than Obama’s) as Huckabee did.  She has indeed forced many Americans to listen to important issues such as health care and the treatment of women in the United States and abroad. However, there is more of an art to politics than cutthroat ads and false niceties when in front of the opponent.  And while Senator Clinton has mastered many skills of the politician, it may be time for her to take the cue from the voters and end this pleasantly before she overstays her welcome.

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