Hillary: To The Bitter End

Following the IN/NC results, I too believed Sen. Clinton would suspend her campaign, or at very least continue in Mike Huckabee "positive" fashion so as to do no further harm to our party's chances in November or her own reputation.

However, over the last 24 hours the Hillary Clinton campaign has given every indication that it intends to do everything in it's power to make this fight more ugly.

Follow me after the jump.

Sen. Clinton has not only made racially divisive comments, her campaign is actively working to prolong the race and contest Sen. Obama's legitimacy.

First, the Michigan Democratic party has finally agreed upon a resolution to seat the delegates 69/59 in Sen. Clinton's favor, and intends to submit it to the DNC. This gives Sen. Clinton a 10 delegate margin instead of the 18 delegate margin she "earned" against uncomitted.

This would put one of the two great remaining questions in the campaign behind us, as well as allow the healing to begin for those Democrats in Michigan angry we haven't been able to reach a settlement.

But this proposal has been rejected out of hand by the Clinton campaign, as disenfranchising the voters of Michigan.

If Sen. Clinton knows she can't win at this point, why is she fighting so hard for those eight delegates? More importantly she is accusing the party of disenfranchising voters, the exact problem this proposal is seeking to remedy, she is deliberately exploiting.

Of note, this does nothing to advance her own viability, all it does is make it more likely voters in Michigan, an important state come November, are that much more likely to feel betrayed by their party, unless she is leading it.

Additionally, the Clinton campaign has recently declared the number 2,024, the previously acknowledged threshold for victory in the race, as a made up number, in spite of having used it for months.

From Politico

"We don’t accept 2,025. It is not the real number because that does not include Florida and Michigan," said Howard Wolfson, one of Clinton’s two chief strategists. "It’s a phony number."

Wolfson said they intend to contest the DNC’s 2,025 number "every day," as well as any declaration of victory made by Obama based upon that number, because it does not include Florida and Michigan.

Just for giggles, here is Sen. Clinton herself declaring 2,025 the magic number.

But Sen. Obama will soon reach the threshold necessary to claim a majority of all pledged delegates, and according to the same article plans to declare victory on the night of the 20th after Oregon puts him over the top.

If Sen. Clinton wanted to, she could graciously bow out after what will be a significant victory in Kentucky for her, allowing her supporters to feel Sen. Obama won fairly and helping not only to unify the party in the process, but also to improve her own stature within a party which has deep divisions she has been attempting to widen for months.

Instead, her campaign is threatening to hold daily conference calls decrying the legitimacy of the win after he has declared victory, and doing everything they can to emphasize that any exclusion of the tained Michigan and Florida results will make victory illegitimate.

Sen. Clinton is preparing to call our nominee illegitimate, and is stoking not only the Michigan and Florida disputes which we must resolve as a party, but seems more open than ever about exploiting the racial politics of the party as well.

This is most disappointing in light of the fact that Super Delegates are purposely giving her space make her own decision with dignity, instead of being forced out by a party than no longer wants her.

From Uncommitted Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Doyle

"I think most of us out of respect for her are content to wait a little longer. ... The absolute best way for this to end is for the candidates to end it, not the superdelegates. That's the ending we all dream about every night."

Superdelegates like Rep. Doyle recognize that if they are seen to publicly decide the race, it will undermine our chances in the fall. So they are giving Sen. Clinton the opportunity to do what is right: Now that she no longer has a chance to win the nomination herself, she can still help unify the party for victory in November and preserve what remains of the Clinton legacy as well.

It was this self interest, in protecting her own reputation, that I thought most of all would keep her from choosing, in the final estimation, so reckless a path as this.

At a time when we must come together to heal the racial gulf she has worked to widen, she continues to exploit it.

At a time when we must bring Michigan and Florida voters back into the fold of legitimacy, she is actively undermining those efforts.

And at a time when we have finally, after over a year of campaign, secured a nominee with a majority of pledged delegates, her campaign is openly preparing to declare his victory illegitimate.

Perhaps the superdelegates are simply askig too much for Sen. Clinton to bow out gracefully, even if it is in her clear self interest. I do think a decision made by voters for voters would give Clinton supporters more faith in the legitimacy of Sen. Obama's candidacy than a decision made by party elites distant from public view.

However, now that we know Sen. Clinton is actively working to undermine the legitimacy of Sen. Obama's candidacy, by inflaming racial tensions, by undermining proposed solutions in Florida and Michigan, and by moving the goal posts once again on delegates, she is too great a liability to the party for superdelegates to continue allow the decision of her exit to be her own.

If she will not stop undermining our party and it's chances of victory in November, then she is owed no favors by it.