Letters to the Editor
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Hillary Clinton is a Winner
Clinton fits the model for a third party candidate
I doublt she'll do it, but she's politically in the middle of Obama and McCain abd would grab support from both.
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To the person who posted this message, you are 100% correct.
If she was not so loyal to the Democrats she should do it.
They have treated her so badly they don't deserve this wonderful candidate in their party.
She has so much to offer and with the Florida and Michigan votes counted ( not forgetting the 92% of blacks she lost in NC)she would be the winner.
I guarantee Florida will not vote for Obama, if she would do like Joe Lieberman and go Independent, she will be likely to win the Presidency.
There are millions of her supporters quietly waiting in the wings.
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Simmer Down
It troubles me that Hillary supporters are so willing to commit to John McCain without even waiting to see what they think of Obama (who is not yet the nominee) in a national campaign, and listen to him actually debate McCain. I'm hoping once the nomination is resolved, no matter which way, Democrats will look at the philosophical chasm between McCain and any Democrat, and ask themselves if they really, really would trade some disappointment that "their" candidate did not get the nomination for four more years of the travesty that has been the Bush Administration. A vote for John McCain is a vote for more of the same in Iraq, more national debt, more tax deals for the rich, even less accessible health care, the death of Roe vs. Wade, etc., etc., etc., etc.
Are you really serious? You would vote for all of that?
And what would you be proving? And who would you be helping?
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I don't see it going to the convention
Please God, doesn't anyone want to win the general election. I have voted Democratic 10 times in the last 40 years and this crazy, brutal delegate system has given me 2 winners and 8 losers. SUPER DELEGATES. Look at the end game. Barack can not get the three states a Democrat must win ( 2 of 3)... Penn. Ohio, and Forida. Both Hillary and McCain are beating him there. So here we go again, another late election nite watching the Dems loose those key battle ground states. Hillary can win these states' electoral votes, so toughen up and do what you are supposed to do...give us a winner.
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I Can Wait A Little Longer
Two Points: Timing and Independent Candidates
On Timing: If the last primaries are June 3rd, I see no problem with waiting until the 4th - or sometime that week - to see where things are . Yes, I suspect Obama will be the nominee, though it will be because the superdelegates make the difference. Yes, I suspect MI and FL will remain unresolved and could have changed things. I'm not particularly happy about either of those situations, but - there they are.
From Senator Clinton's point of view - I don't know the financial costs of one more month of campaign. But, run honorably (i.e. - build yourself, don't tear down Senator Obama) there is a valid arguement that she owes her supporters these next few weeks, even if the results may be forgone. She's said "it's important to let everybody vote." It is, so why not do so?
On Independent Candidates: Pushing Sentator Clinton towards an independent run seems foolhardy. Were she the Democratic nominee, my greatest fear would have been (or be) whether she could have pulled independents and Republicans into the "Democratic" column for a White House win. I don't think her unfavorables with conservaties have decreased.
However, I am sure, if she ran as an independent candidate, she could split the democratic vote. I know many on both the Clinton and Obama side have said we'd vote McCain over the democratic candidate we didn't support. That's still a fear going into the fall. But, we don't know how that will play out, and with mid-June to November, the nominee will have lots of party-fence mending time. I don't think three more weeks of May will make that much differnce.
What I'm most confident prognosticating is that while an independent Presidential run from Sentator Clinton would make for a highly dramatic race, it wouldn't allow either her or Senator Obama a White House victory. Senator Clinton would siphon Democratic votes, but few, if any, Republican ones. Regardless then of how independent leaning voters split to the three candidates, I can't imagine any one candidate landing ALL the independents. I imagine the pluarality of votes would land with McCain. Even best case - if Democratic leaning voters turn out in record numbers against a low Republican turn-out - we're looking at a nail biter.
I think a McCain win would be bad for the country, and I'm sure an independent run would not increase Senator Clinton's future chances anywhere - there would be too much bad blood amongst the democrats. She would be Naderizing herself.
AlterEthan
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More Faith in Democratic Voters Needed
I agree that the race will be decided before the Denver convention, and that these last remaining primaries will have a large voice in that decision.
Why? Because Senator Hillary Clinton is fast approaching the point where she is her own worst opponent. Her latest interview supplied another shot in her own foot (the first being her sniper fire claim, the second the provocative we'll obliterate Iran comment): that she can build the best coalition for a Democratic victory in November because she has the support of hard-working Americans, white Americans and Senator Obama does not. Within the context of her statement, it is back-handed race card playing along the lines of Bill Clinton's South Carolina primary statement.
Some Clinton supporters will not immediately see this latest rhetorical mistake as significant, but check out the rising anger and opposition from African-American Democrats. She has introduced a Rovian wedge issue that I think will ruin whatever chances she might have had to win the nomination.
The Clinton camp has run out of money, has a narrowing chance of winning 68 percent of remaining delegates needed for the nomination, and now runs the risk of dividing the party against itself.
At some point even her large majority of supporters in West Virginia will question the legitimacy of her claim on the nomination.