Time To Call It Quits, Hillary

My Top 3

Hillary Clinton is killing the Democratic party. All the signs are there. Today, Barack Obama pulled ahead of Clinton in the delegate count, with 1,869 to her 1,697. The superdelegates are jumping ship, too. Obama now has 277 superdelegates compared to Clinton’s 273.

If she stays in the race all the way into the Democratic convention, she stands a good chance of clearing John McCain’s path to the White House. In this commentator’s opinion, she is the more electable Democratic candidate, but the math simply isn’t there. She can’t win the nomination, but as long as she stays in, she can keep the crown from Obama, too. It’s true that she will probably win the West Virginia primary handily, but it just isn’t enough to help her. It’s over.

The party is still bitterly divided, a bad sign for whoever emerges from the food fight at the convention, who will only have three months to campaign against McCain. The Arizona senator, meanwhile has been saving up his money and biding his time until an opponent is chosen. The Republican party has had time to get used to rhe idea of McCain representing them - a huge advantage.

Clintons aren’t used to losing, but Clinton needs to get used to the idea. She needs to drop out of the race for the sake of the party. The dream ticket (”Obama-Clinton 2008″) is no longer a possibility with the tension that’s built up between the two candidates, so if she does concede, then she’ll have to wait four years for another shot at an office at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Right now, the Democrats need to pick one candidate, decide on a strategy for defeating John McCain, and focus their efforts on fighting him, not fighting each other. If Clinton stays the course all the way until she gets the official boot in late August, then she might as well be signing the party’s death sentence. There’s no other way for the Democrats to win at this point. Even Howard Dean sees it. Pack up and go home, Senator Clinton. You ran a tough campaign, now shut up before you find yourself doing all the Republicans’ campaigning for them…

Today is Monday, May 12, 2008 - only 253 days away from the next presidential inauguration.