PrintMay 8, 2008
Hillary and the 'Death Star Option'
Roger Simon of Politico sums up Hillary Clinton's strategy from here on out:
In a relatively short amount of time, Clinton has gone from being the inevitable winner to being the underdog to being a dead woman walking.She needs superdelegates to win the nomination, but what is her argument to superdelegates?Can she promise them she will win a majority of the pledged delegates that voters have chosen in primaries and caucuses? No.Can she promise them she can take the lead in the popular vote? No.Can she promise them she can win a majority of the primary and caucus states? No.But can she get the superdelegates to overturn the will of the voters, slap African-Americans and young voters in the face and shatter the party? Well, yeah, she can try for that Death Star option.
It would be more than a slap in the face if Hillary took the nomination from Obama at this point. It would destroy the Democratic party and block any chance that the party could win in November.
There are some who argue we are close to that point already, that the machinations of Clinton with the Superdelegates is turning off young voters who signed on to the Obama campaign because of his promise of the "new politics."
This is why the party is so anxious to get the primaries behind them. And Hillary Clinton - for the moment - won't let them.
