Letters to the Editor
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Clinton can stay in as long as she wants to
But she does so at the risk of her own reputation. And I don't think positive or negative campaigning makes that much of a difference.
The longer she runs a campaign universally considered lost, the more her own judgement is called into question. Right now she is seen as being stubborn; next week she could be seen as increasingly delusional. Only to get worse the longer she stays in when its obvious to absolutely everyone she's lost.
Many people already view her as wanting to sabotage Obama's campaign so she can run in four years. While you may see people claiming this now as people on the fringe, the longer this goes on the more legitimate people accusing her of this will become. Especially if she takes this all the way to the convention. Not to mention that if she did hold out till then it'd be like three nazi soldiers holding out in hills in Bavaria until 1960.
Right now all she has lost is any chance to ever be President. She'll be too old to run in eight years, and there'll be too much bad blood if Obama loses for her to run in four. I suppose from her standpoint that's bad enough. But if she stays in well past closing, her reputation in the party will start to suffer, and she can forget Senate leader, perhaps she can forget about her senate seat itself. I wouldn't put it past certain parts of the democratic party to mount a serious primary challenge to Hillary in two years as payback, and with how much she has lost AA voters with her race baiting and 'white man's burden' attitude towards them, to win it.
So she can stay in as long as she wants to. Obama is right not to demand anything of her. But she really has to keep in mind that she stays in this race at her own peril.