The numbers do not lie. Hillary Clinton's hopes for winning the majority of the pledged delegates is now a virtual impossibility. Much to the dismay of many conservatives, including myself, she did not perform quite well enough on Tuesday to keep the nomination in doubt.
But, that may turn out to be for the best... The hand of the Clinton political machine may now be forced.
All indications show that she is going to press on and wage battle to the bitter end... and 'bitter' is exactly how things may become! If Barack thought he was familiar with that particular emotion before, he may just find out how truly bitter things may get.
As Politico reported Thursday evening [5], Sen. Clinton spent a part of the week campaigning behind the scenes for private commitments from some superdelegates that remain undecided.
Going all the way back to Super Tuesday, it started becoming clear that the path to a nomination for her was going to have to occur at the expense of the pledged delegate majority - the votes earned by Obama. One could theorize her efforts to gauge her possible superdelegate support could be as a means to see if there is salvageable, mathematical hope from the superdelegate count, if something dramatic was to transpire regarding Obama.
With regards to how the pledged delegates are stacking up in this race, Clinton is likely to do well over the upcoming weeks in the West Virginia, Kentucky, and Puerto Rico primaries - Puerto Rico having the highest delegate count remaining. The spin will be that the momentum is with her and has been since before Pennsylvania.
Never discount just how much weight the liberals of the Democrat Party put behind perceptions and emotions. This, of course, coming at the expense of the rational, analytical reality - the raw votes gained throughout the entirety of the democratic nomination process. Its doubtful anyone knows the Democratic Party membership, and their collective thought process, better than the Clintons.
Tossed into all of this calculating (and not many would argue that word applies anytime a Clinton is mentioned) is a wildcard - the whispers of some dirt out there regarding Obama. If this is so, the Clintons would certainly be privy to this information. Instead of the 'October Surprise' we are all familiar with, we could witness a 'May Surprise'.
Would it not be the duty of such a party devotee, as is Hillary Clinton, to spare the party an inevitable loss in November, following the Republicans releasing any information on Obama... at which point its too late?
If the Clinton campaign decides to remain in this fight with the intentions to actually win, and it is determined the superdelegate math could work by manipulating the very Democratic Party membership she would be courting, the 10 days between the May 20th Kentucky and Oregon primaries and the Puerto Rico primary on June 1st, could see some very interesting politics. And maybe some very interesting revelations, as well.
We shall see! Just some thoughts.
