Keep on winning! Never surrender.

The deals and the process and everything have already been worked out.

This tone from Hillary is more respectful and conciliatory than any i've heard in this entire campaign.

It's because whatever deals are going to happen after June 3rd, they've already been placed on the table, if not settled. I've detected a change in tone from her campaign for about 4-5 days now.

McAuliffe, Carville, Wolsfon. Then big boys like Kennedy, Dodd, Richardson, Edwards all of a sudden making multiple appearances ALL seeming VERY sure this will be over shortly after June 3rd.

Of course she's going to put out the normal spin. She's still running. She's trying to raise money to offset as much as she can because she knows it will Obama's supporters who will have to foot the bill and we cannot squander it (its still largely untapped) because Dems need that mountain of cash in the general.

Of course she's going to run the electibility argument. Her supporters LOVE her and even sane Obama supporters don't want to see her quit. Its important to keep up the energy and excitement and minimize anger and resentment and that means (at this late juncture) to finish out the primaries.

But trust me about it: the deals are done. Everyone already knows what's next. A united and energized Democratic party and an end to Republican tyranny.

Sure she's making "nice" (at least for her) for the moment. And I really don't think she'll take it to the Convention Floor (primarily for her own self preservation).

But still...sometimes you listen to this woman, and you actually start to think she might actually believe the faulderall coming out of her mouth.

Just a few more weeks and the real campaign starts. Thank goodness the Democratic base (which is made up primarily of city dwellers, minorities, and the educated) is still intact, which will allow Senator Obama to tie up this election with relative ease.

wow. she gained about six to eight delegates on the day, a gain that will be more than obliterated a week hence when Oregon, with several times the delegates of Inbred Transyllvania. She's done, and a big win among folk who go to family reunions to find someone to marry means jack cheese. At least it seems as if her tone is more civil now (read: resigned to the inevitable) and she's hoping Obama will bail out her mismanaged botched campaign, which is over 20 million overdrawn. Bye, Billary.

Intereting argument.

And can it not be said that, by taking this all the way to June 3 she gets to say to her supporters: "Look, we took it as far as we did and never surrendered, never gave up. We just came up short, the battle is lost but the war goes on."

That scenario may very well swing a lot of the "bitter" among her base to feel good about voting for Obama. To get involved and active in beating McCain. It may actually be, as I think you suggest, instrumental in getting everyone together for the big game. And her and Bill will be critical in making states like PA safely in our column.

At least one can hope.

PS - no offense to anyone with the "bitter" comment above. If Obama lost in the late going by this margin I'd probably act the same way. Hell, I know I would.

PPS - and yes, I know that there are people as racist as that WV man from today's article in NYC, SF, or anyhere else for that matter. Just unfortunate that he got a forum for his views.

Would it be possible for you to write about a clear-as-glass Hillary Clinton victory without dragging in Obama Concerns at every possible juncture? The supposedly vanquished Hillary Clinton scored an impressive win in West Virginia today, one which should rattle at least a few SDs and shame a whole raft of pundits. Because I don't watch TV, I read Hillary's speech on the Internet, and also read reactions to it over on TalkLeft. A number of posters on TalkLeft were so affected by what she had to say, they were crying. And these aren't babes in the woods, but rather seasoned political junkies who've seen every trick in the book. So, just for once, couldn't you have given the woman her due? This may not fit in especially well with salon's All Obama All The Time agenda, but it might make you look just a teensy bit more viable than Timmeh and Tweety.

It is a obvious that Hillary's win here shows that there are real problems in November for the Democrats if Obama is the candidate. Many, many voters said they would not vote for him (only 37% who voted for Hillary said that they would vote for him in exit polls). The Democrats can discount their warnings if they desire, but they may find themselves very red-faced in the end.

Repuglican voters.

West Virginia's primary was only open to registered Democrats and Independents. So the very tired 'rethuglican' canard won't work this time. Next?

1. Will the press harangue and pester Hillary, to renounce, repudiate AND reject the voters who say they will never vote for a black candidate because they are black?

2. If Hillary won't do it, then Howard Dean needs to hold a press conference and say that the DNC neither wants nor needs the votes of people who won't vote for a candidate because of their race (or gender or religion). I know some people will think this is a dangerous thing to do if the dems want to win in Nov. but not only do I disagree, but even if I did agree, I think it would come back to haunt the dems far more in the future if they don't stand up to this attempt by a major party figure to rely on racism as a justification for electibility.

Jeez I can't stand Hillary.

She talks about the inspiration of mountaintops and yet she supports destroying the mountains of West Virginia.

Unfortunately, so does Obama.

Does anyone out there oppose destroying the oldest mountains in the world?