What's Next For Clinton?

By Kevin Robinson in News on May 21, 2008 1:00PM

Not much, actually. Her win in Kentucky, along with her recent wins in Indiana and West Virginia add nothing to her argument that she is the best candidate going into November. She can win white working-class voters? So what? She won the popular vote? That depends on how you do the math - and counting Michigan and Florida skews those numbers, because she ran unopposed there.

While Clinton was in the Bluegrass State vowing to fight on until there is a nominee, Obama had circled back to Iowa, giving a victory speech where he won his first victory in the presidential race. “We have returned to Iowa with a majority of delegates elected by the American people,” he said in Des Moines, “and you have put us within reach of the Democratic nomination for president of the United States of America.” That, coupled with the announcement that Clinton had raised $22 million (without paying back her debts) to Obama $31 million, and it sure looks like the fat lady is singing

No, her recent string of wins in states that probably won't vote Democratic in the fall does nothing to bolster the argument that she needs to win before the convention in August. (Or before June, the date that party honcho Howard Dean has asked the superdelegates to make up their minds by.) Superdelegates, who will decide this race whether anyone wants to admit it or not, see those victories, hear those arguments, and don't care.

If the superdelegate defections to Obama in the past month are any indication, Hillary Clinton is running a vanity campaign at this point. As Roger Simon put it, when you get to a place where your wins no longer matter, you are in a very, very bad place.

Photo by Barbara Kinney