A few reasons why Hillary Clinton still runs

If you're wondering why Hillary Clinton hasn't packed it in yet and ceded the Democratic nomination to Barack Obama, we stumbled across a few reasons Thursday night as we hovered outside two Clinton fund-raisers here in the L.A. area.

Technically, there's still a chance she can win the nomination, though the odds aren't likely to draw many bets. But as we've seen over the last 15 years or so of Clintons in the national spotlight, they tend not to quit. And Clinton's grassroots supporters don't want her to quit, at least not yet, for reasons that have less to do with political maneuvering than with history and glass ceilings and pay disparity and being dismissed with a single "sweetie."

"I run a small business and we wouldn't still be here except that I'm stubborn, and she's stubborn," Pat Schilling of Irvine said in a hallway of Newport Beach's posh Balboa Bay Club & Resort, moments after Clinton finished speaking. "I can really identify with what she's saying. Women are so used to being told, 'No, you can't do that.' Sometimes it just takes the strength to keep doing it." And no, Schilling said, the people inside the private, $250-minimum gathering weren't getting frustrated with Clinton's campaign. "That's why we're here," Schilling said. "We're paying for the next round. We want to be heard from. She speaks for me, and I've never had a president speak for me before."

And Clinton gave no hint that she was considering giving up. "She gave the analogy of the Lakers," said Stacy Brower of Newport Beach. "You're not going to get up and leave [a game] with two minutes left, are you?" 

Later, at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza, Clinton made it clear she's staying in the race through the end of the primary season early next month -- and perhaps through the Democratic National Convention in August. "There’s something to be said for going the distance," Clinton could be heard telling the private gathering. Noting that other nomination fights have ...

... lasted to the convention, she gave a revved-up version of her familiar case for why she, rather than Obama, ought to be the Democratic nominee, based on large states won and electability in crucial general election swing states.

Both speeches were upbeat, high-energy affairs, tinged with optimism and no hints of resignation, according to people in the rooms. There were also no hints of the recent setbacks, such as the flow of crucial superdelegates to Obama, and endorsements for him by John Edwards and NARAL Pro-Choice America.

"None of that was part of the message tonight," said Elena Ong, a co-chair of the Century Plaza event and treasurer of the California Democratic Party. "There was tremendous passion and energy." Orly Halevy, a photography business owner, said it didn't sound to her like Clinton was ready to quit. "She believes that she’s the right candidate, that it’s not over yet."

Back in Newport Beach,  Julia Rappaport wasn't ready for Clinton to quit either. "She'll do great," Rappaport said as she hurried off to try to beat the crush at the valet-parking stand. "We haven't counted every vote yet."

-- Scott Martelle and Stuart Silverstein

Photo by Robyn Beck / AFP/Getty Images

Comments

[Light]

If Hilary had what it takes to win the Presidency, she'd be winning the democratic race right now. Obama was never expected to do as well as he did . People didn't even think he had a chance. But now look at him. It's time for Clinton to stop wasting money and let the best candidate win. She'd help the whole party, if she'd stop being selfish.

[tom]

Maybe she hasn't provided McCain enough sound bites and video clips of herself making Obama unelectible. How else is she going to have a shot at 2012? When she told Richardson Obama "can't be elected", that was not a statement. It was an exclamation.

[Kimmy]

Linda,

I have never seen an integrated church, but I'd be glad to send my sons and daughters to Rev. Wrights. Pity I don't live close.

Any religion is indoctrination, but at least his speaks to the message of the prophets.

If you're sick of Jeremiads, stay out of the church!

[BD]

"NO ONE" wants Hillary to quit.

Right except that MORE PEOPLE HAVE VOTED FOR OBAMA THAN HILLARY.
SO IN REALITY MORE PEOPLE WANT HER TO QUIT THAN WANT HER TO STAY IN THE RACE YOU IDIOT!

I quess we are all just stupid.
I guess all the people voting for Hillary are just suffering from short term memory loss and are forgetting Whitewater, The Rose Law Firm, Noman Hsu, Actual Weather Underground pardons, Marc Rich, Sniper Fire,
SEX SCANDALS WITH SEVERAL WOMEN AND A TOTAL DISCRACE OF THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT.
THE CLINTONS HAVE NO SHAME!!
Failures halting the genocide in Ruwanda, After the USS COLE was attacked, Missed any kind of pre-emptive strike against Bin Laden. Nafta Agreements, 500,000 dead children as a result of our embargo against Iraq.
BlackHawk down, Bill's dealings with Canadien businessmen Kakajickastan Plutonium netting him and Hillary MILLIONS!!!
DO YOU REMEMBER THAT:
Bill Clinton became President in 1992 with only 43% of the popular vote. That’s because Bush Sr. drove conservatives away from the party by appeasing leftists during his first term, just as Bush Jr. has done during his second term, and in 1992 conservatives revolted in anger. 19% of the popular vote went to 3rd Party candidate Ross Perot, most of them protest conservatives, and Bill Clinton spent the next eight years destroying America from the Oval Office with the support of only 43% of the nation.
A reality the nation has never recovered from…
SO I GUESS AMNESIA IS THE BEST YOU COULD COME UP WITH!!

NOW WE HAVE HILLARY TO DEAL WITH.
Oh but don't worry!!
Hillary has,
Visited over 80 Countries and negotiated peace treaties.
Ducked Sniper Fire.
Has been our wonderful New York Senator with the only pretense as a stepping stone to the White House.
Says "Vote For me because more white people, HARD WORKING WHITE PEOPLE vote for me
Last October she was beating all other candidates by 20%
This was her campaign to lose and SHE, alone, lost it by NOT running an efficient campaign, arrognatly thinking she was "entitled", her endless lies, and her kitchen-sink Republican strategy that came back to bite her in the butt.

Just a few of Hillay's WHOPPERS!
• She didn't know about the FALN pardons.
• She didn't know that her brothers were being paid to get pardons that Clinton granted.
• Taking the White House gifts was a clerical error.
• She didn't know that her staff would fire the travel office staff after she told them to do so.
• She didn't know that the Peter Paul fundraiser in Hollywood in 2000 cost $700,000 more than she reported it had.
• She opposed NAFTA at the time.
• She was instrumental in the Irish peace process.
• She urged Bill to intervene in Rwanda.
• She played a role in the '90s economic recovery.
• The billing records showed up on their own.
• She thought Bill was innocent when the Monica scandal broke.
• She was always a Yankees fan.
• She had nothing to do with the New Square Hasidic pardons (after they voted for her 1,400-12 and she attended a meeting at the White House about the pardons).
• She negotiated for the release of refugees in Macedonia (who were released the day before she got there).

ARE YOU CLINTON SUPPORTERS LOBOTOMIZED!!!

I'm just a kid from Brooklyn but thank god for CHANGE.
It won't be Hillary,
I hope and pray it wont be McCain
For Better or worse I will vote OBAMA
and YOU BETTER LIVE UP TO THE HYPE BUDDY!!
Peace on Earth for ALL people.

BD

[DG]

Hillary shouldn't quit. We in Oregon deserved to be heard. We have the right as those people in Iowa to vote and be counted. We have a failed demoracy where we force candidates to quit when many of us are left behind. I am voting for Hillary because she is the best candidate with the experience to run this country. Obama is just a good speaker with charisma.

[Aaron M]

Mimi wrote: "WAKE UP she should be the nominee and not Obama she would fight every single day for all of you because she loves and cares about this country and everyone in it."

Wow, Mimi, do you think that's just a little bit of a blubbering overstatement? I certainly appreciate that many women find a hero in Hillary as a woman, but come on, you might at least pay some attention to Hill's "I'll do for you if you did for me" attitudes.

I think you might want to rub some of the rosey color off those glasses and just look at the candidates for what they are truly, not the way you do or do not idolize them. That's just the truth, Mimi, and I mean no disrespect.

[Joshua]

I am voting for John Mccain but if he loses I hope he loses to Clinton because I like her alot more than Obama and I trust her more on policy and she loves America unlike Obama and his wife.

[Manolete]

The reason why Obama is winning the democratic race is because in the early primaries all the voters who disliked Hillary's strength, demonstrated their anti-Hillary sentiment by voting for Obama, before they knew who the real Barack Hussein Obama is, and of his close relaltionships with black supremacist and extremist groups that hate America.

Now that the anti-Hillary voters know who the real Obama is, they wish they had voted for Hilary and they are no longer willing to vote for Obama in the general election if he is indeed the democratic candidate.

The reason why Hillary is getting the incredible support she's been getting in the latest primaries is because when they compare Hillary with Obama, Hillary looks like a saint. The only supporters Obama has left are blacks that vote for him for the one and only reason that he is black and the eggheads that are young, naive and idealistic.

This is why americans that still have a chance to vote in the primaries will continue to support Hillary for President of the United States for America, because they know she is the most qualified, has the most experience and most of all, because she Loves America.

Hillary for President!
or else...........John McCain.

[Jom]

Of course she is not quitting. It is all about money. HILLARY NOT QUITTING = MONEY. Every day she stays in means that supporters, rich and poor alike, scrape together more money to pay for the campaign. This will enable her to retrieve the money she lent to her campaign. Hillary is poor (never mind the personal wealth of tens of millions left). Healp the Clintons accumulate wealth. Save up your money and PLEASE GIVE HILLARY MORE MONEY NOW!

[LonghornMama]

The day the media finally succeeds in knocking the really brilliant candidate for President out of the race, there will be a quiet riot carried out by millions and millions of women across this country. Women who are fed up with being told what to do and when to do it. Women who share memories of the blue-stained dress in their own lives. This is not your usual political "they will be back" year. This is "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore." An inexperienced man with a ton of flaws is still better than a women at any cost? Look out. Here comes the quiet riot.

[Lee Larson]

AH, IT NEVER STOPS. *DO ALL OF YOU FOOLS OUT THERE STILL THINK THAT ALL OF THIS IS ON THE LEVEL? US POLITICS ARE AS HONEST AS CHARLES MANSON SAYING 'I DIDN'T DO IT!'

[happyitsarealelection]

I am glad we are still in the throws of this election process. I'm ecstatic that the democrats are still engaged in a real process instead of the inevitible anointment of the chosen one.....this is why I am a democrat!

That said....I believe that John Edwards layed low in order to swoop in and create a debt to himself that might result in the vp spot. This reeks of the regular boys club bs and is no better than any other kind of "ism"

IF Hillary does not win the nominiation, and I haven't counted her out yet, I believe she has more than EARNED the vp nod and Obama should extend that offer to her with that sentiment. It would do a lot to ensure a democrat in the whitehouse come November and that, afterall, is what the whole point is!

[TheTruth]

hillary - can't take care of her man, can't take care of our country

[kaveman]

Go Operation Chaos!! The DEMs will loose. Yes, keep going (HRC), you're being discriminated against. You're under paid. Keep going!!! We love the poly pant suit thing and the canary yellow shirts. Go Granny Go! Chaos for all you DEMs, they don't call you DIM for nothing.

[N.E. BodybutHillary]

Hillary should be campaigning for Barack Obama now that her candicacy is finished. she chooses not to. Her thoughts and concerns have nothing to do with benefiting the DNC. Stubbornness is a flawed trait when it obstructs you from achieving the goals that you and your party are working to attain. Step Up Hillary.

[CC in GA]

Now that it has been said that the nomination is out of her grip her campaign cries sexism. In my opinion this is why men don't take women seriously. When some women lose something they can't just say I lost they have to come up with an excuse. You can't try to run with the big boys then cry when you get trampled like the rest of the big boys. She needs to suck it up & stop making excuses.

I thought Hillary supporters said if Obama lost it wouldn't be because of racism so how can she lose because of sexism? If Obama can't cry racism then she can't cry sexism. How many polls have said that they wouldn't vote for Hillary just because she's a woman? Racism trumps sexism everyday. If Hillary's glass ceiling is 100 ft up then Obama's us 50 ft. or maybe because she's a white woman the sky's the limit but since he's a black man the limits the sky.

[Randy]

Message to America...

'It's over when it's over."

[sunny florida]

The DNC hasn't figured out yet that many democrats are poised to leave the "party" in droves if Obama gets the nomination. He is too inexperienced, elitist, far left and frankly lacks good judgment to lead this country in these very, very scary times. In the DNC's eyes, the voters really don't matter (see FL and MI - even though some other states moved up their primaries as well) and regard the media's support as somehowthe same as the public's support for their anointed candidate (NOT!). DNC and media push for her to end the race and every single poll shows a strong difference of opinion with the public: let it play out.
Any objective, unbiased observer will tell you the push has been on since before January to "get behind" Obama and Hillary went on to win each time they counted her out. New Hampshire, OH, TX, PA, IN, each time "this is it", and she wins. Sometimes BY HUGE margins, like in West Virginia.
I personally will NOT vote in the GE for Obama, and will write in her name instead. I can no more, in good conscience, vote for an inexperienced, racist (contrary to what he and his supporters would have you believe, the signs, words and associations are all there), politician then I could vote for a Republican. Being from FL, I am not alone in my stance that not counting my vote now, as it stands, means forget me in the GE. Good luck.
Hillary, my humble message to you is this: If the "boys club" in Washington can't take your strength, poise, intelligence and perseverance and the DNC chooses instead to nominate an inexperienced, slick, elitist politician, then PLEASE run as an Independent. Your 17 million supporters, to date, are behind you and we want YOU as our next President. Period

[Brad Edwards]

I'm sick and tired of hearing pro-Hillary people praise her vow to "see this thing to the end" and "this thing's not over." Common sense and logic should enter in here somewhere, but Clinton has deaf ears. Even if I were a Clinton supporter, she would have blown my future support with this insane refusal to see the handwriting on the wall. She doesn't know the meaning of party unity -- just the term "sore loser."

[BeerBubba]

CHURCHES WOULD BE EMPTY IF PEOPLE LEFT WHEN THE PREACHER SAID THE FIRST IRRATIONAL THING.

Let us pray that any politician found in a church is pandering to the ignorant American voters. Especially the republicans who'd preachers are *really* scary.

[unregistered user]

If there's an afterlife I would imagine Vince Foster is yucking it up right about now.

[JTomorrow]

A Black woman told me that Black men call a woman "sweetie" if they think she's ugly.

[Anne in TX]

She may want to stop using sporting analogies. Remember what happened to Eight Belles after Hillary compared herself to the filly? Sorry, Lakers!

[Dan McClain]

60% of the American people do not trust Hillary to be truthful. I guess being caught red handed in an out right lie means nothing to you supporters of hers. Oh wait, she 'mis-spoke', it wasn't a lie! Keep making excuses for 'nurse rachet' and keep voting for chromosomes, you 'Billary' supporters. One more thing. There is NO WAY this woman would have ever made it this far on her own if it were not for all the years she was President of the US of A. Oh wait...that was her alter ego that was President. My bad.
She would sell her very soul to be President. Makes me sick to see her face now. Liars do that to me.

[Don H]

Obama will wither in the glare of a general election. Then, Hillary will look pretty good to the party in 2012 when it needs somebody to put together the pieces from the debacle that is shaping up now.