Rachel Maddow puts Democratic Party on suicide watch
Rachel Maddow was the only pundit on MSNBC on the night of the Indiana and North Carolina primaries who didn’t buy into the prevailing notion of the evening that Hillary Clinton was going to gracefully bow out of her presidential run. Even Keith Olbermann announced: “I disagree with Rachel. I don’t think it’s ever happened before.” You can watch her analysis of Hillary’s impending “all-out, scorched war” below (starting at about the 5:10 mark):
Starting yesterday, during both her appearance on Race for the White House and on her radio show on Air America, Rachel officially put the Democratic party on a ten-day suicide watch. I couldn’t find video or audio of either, but fortunately she posted her thoughts regarding this topic on her Air America blog:
When the Democratic primary calendar ends on June 3rd, Senator Obama will have more delegates than Senator Clinton.
On what grounds could a candidate who is behind at the end of a race avoid conceding that he or she has been beaten? On the grounds that the race really isn’t over!
After the primary calendar has ended, Clinton’s campaign can only justify or explain her staying in the race if she makes the case that the Democratic Party still has not chosen a nominee conclusively. Clinton needs an argument that the game should go into extra innings. Overtime. Bonus round. Detention. Whatever. Clinton has now found that argument—she says she will not stop campaigning until the issue of the Florida and Michigan delegates is settled to her satisfaction.
The Florida/Michigan issue get settled, of course, by the Democrats’ Rules and Bylaws Committee… unless of course that committee’s decision gets appealed to the Credentials Committee… unless of course that decision, too, gets appealed… to the floor of the convention.
Do you see where this is going? If there is an open, unresolved procedural issue involving the Florida and Michigan delegations, Senator Clinton will be able to cite that as her justification for staying in the race until the convention even though she is not ahead in the nomination contest at the end of the primary calendar.
If she can ensure that the Florida and Michigan issue stays unresolved until the convention (and by appealing it every step of the way, I don’t see how that can be avoided), then Clinton stays in the race until the convention. Staying in until the convention buys her three more months of campaign time, three more months to make her case to the party and the country, three more months for some potential political unfortunateness to befall Senator Obama.
And it keeps the race for the Democratic nomination open, at least theoretically, for Senator Clinton to win instead of Senator Obama.

Hillary in Florida yesterday: “Not. Going. Anywhere.”
Rachel’s 100% right. Read it all. Hillary has zero plans of going away before the convention in Denver. She plans on fighting this thing through the summer. The only way to cripple the inevitable is for a flood of super delegates to go Obama’s way before the 31st. And with the wankery I’m hearing from her staff and reading from her supporters, I don’t even know if that will matter. They’re pretty much convinced this thing won’t be over until every vote is counted in not Florida or Michigan, but in Denver.
MORE: Olbermann’s take on Clinton’s appearances in Florida is worth a look, too.
Posted by Kevin K. on 05/22/08 at 05:41 AM • Permalink
Categories: Politics • Election '08 • Barack Obama • Hillary Clinton • Editorials • Poliblogs • Television • YouTubidity •

