Hillary Clinton, speaking in Kentucky, has superdelegates in mind

Hillary Clinton has indulged a taste for history of late. And that was on display tonight, as she claimed her overpowering victory in the Kentucky primary (while ignoring an expected defeat looming across the country in Oregon).

Campaigning in West Virginia earlier this month, on her way to a huge primary win last Tuesday, she stressed that since 1916, no Democrat had won the White House without carrying the Mountain State.

This evening, in Louisville, she put forth a vaguer proposition. It has often been said, she asserted, that "as goes Kentucky, so goes the nation."

Frankly, that was a new one on us. But if it's so, that's bad news for Barack Obama. As we noted earlier, he would seem to have little chance to being competitive in Kentucky as the Democratic presidential nominee.

Kentucky has had a winning track record in recent decades -- the last time the Bluegrass State picked a loser in a White House contest was in 1960, when it backed Richard Nixon instead of John Kennedy.

A handful of other states can make comparable claims as bellwethers. Still, Clinton pointedly noted that her husband won Kentucky in both of his successful presidential races. And that helped frame the message in a victory speech that was directed more at Democratic superdelegates than the cheering throng in front of her.

After she spoke kind and gracious words about Sen. Ted Kennedy in the wake of the revelation that he suffers from a malignant brain tumor, after she touched upon her commitment to universal healthcare and ending the war in Iraq, after she made her now ritualistic pitch for cash by reciting her website, she got to what she and her aides see as the nub of the matter.

When the primary season wraps up on June 3 ...

... with contests in Montana and South Dakota, she insisted, neither she nor Obama will have reached the "magic number" of delegates needed to declare the nomination clinched. (In her formulation -- and this is essential to her cause -- that figure will be higher then the current 2,026 because some accommodation will have been made to seat delegates from the rogue states of Michigan and Florida).

At that point, she said, the party's superdelegates "will have a tough choice to make" in putting one contender over the top. And "tough" she implied, should be the guiding principle -- as in, who is likely to wage the toughest fight against Republican John McCain.

"Dream on," Hillary, most party heavyweights likely were muttering to themselves. But this we know -- she simply will not be nudged or cajoled out of the Democratic race until she's decided all is lost for her candidacy. And who knows when that may be; as she said in her speech, she plans to keep making her case -- "until we have a nominee, whoever she may be."

-- Don Frederick

Photo credit: AFP/Getty Images

Comments

[Jenn]

After the disgusting ways that Obama has attacked Hillary, including allowing his subordinates and operatives to work behind the scenes playing the race card and bashing Hillary, I wouldn't touch him with a ten foot pole. I'd rather vote for McCain, being somewhat independent. He's not going to go more than 4 years and then Hillary can make a Clinton Comeback!

But for now, it's best summed up in this shirt!

http://www.teesed.com/store/pithyblue/2948873

[Kun Toe]

We need Al Gore!

He's not black or a woman and I bet the hillbillies will look past his tree hugging ways and vote with the donkey party and beat grandpa Mccain.

[Haven]

The quote mentioned in the article is from Abraham Lincoln and is fairly well-known. President Lincoln was a Kentuckian.

[Judith]

The only thing HRC is doing is trying to keep a wage in the democratic party. Five will get you ten, she will run as AN INDEPENDANT ONCE THE DNC PUTS OBAMA AS THE WINNER.....SHE SHOULD KNOW ENOUGH TO BOW OUT GRACEFULLY, BUT NOT HER..... HOW SAD ONES GREED FOR THE TOP SEAT IN THE NATION, WOULD HAVE THEM ENDANGER LOSSING IT TO THE WRONG PARTY... SELFISH IS WHAT IT IS... ( AND TO HER SUPPORTERS, I'M A WOMAN OVER 60 LIKE HER AND WOULD NOT VOTE FOR HER.).... I HOPE THE DNC PUTS A STOP TO THIS SOON.....

[Marshall]

Wow. I guess we should just let Kentucky decide the Democratic nominee then. Why bother letting the other 49 states vote when we could just run the whole country according to the whims of Kentucky!

[Tan P]

Hillary supporters has been programme to say..if she is not the nominee..they will vote Mccain..When a candidate plays such politics..it shows that she has not subtance but actually use coercion to get the superdelegate.Hope you people see that

[benjamin]

Think about this, all her drooling followers are whining about how hard it's been for her and unfair, and now she's been doing whining about how unfair things are. Do we really want a president who can't take the unfairness of lie? Life is not fair, you suck it the hell up and you drive on. That's what this hard working uneducated white man does, that's what Obama has continued to do. To be fair, McPain does too, but his policies are Bush Lite and everyone knows it.

If Clinton did get the nod, what the hell will her whiney supporters do when Whitewater gets brought up. When her husband lying under oath is going to be brought up? The nation is going to remember and things that Obama has had too much class to not bring up, are going to be on the television 24/7, pounding her into the ground reminding the majority of americans about all the shadiness her and her husband brought to the whitehouse. Furthermore, she's truly not much different than McCain. She supported the Bush agenda for years until it became politically expedient to appear against. Then all of a sudden "uh, well, now I wouldn't support the war in Iraq". Come on. She's a liar.

Unless Obama has more dirty laundry to air, it's pretty much done with. The Clintons hit him hard and in fact, he should be grateful for it, because I think the fact that he has been hit so hard early on with the personal attacks while she's been pitched nothing but softballs, means that he's a far more serious contender for the GE. The second her laundry got aired in the way his has, the public opinion polls showing her able to beat McPain would quickly shift against her. That's exactly what the super delegates had better be considering. She can win Kentucky in the primary, but can she win Kentucky in November after the media and blogs get done analyzing whitewater and reminding everyone of the Clinton's shading buisness dealings that demonstrate they are very much the money'd elite, her well documented and ongoing lies, etc...? I don't think she could. McPain would wipe the mat with her after that.

[Tan P]

Sounds strange..HRC supporters are blackmailing the country of saying..if you dont vote her in..We will vote for the opposition...silly but a drowing woman will cling to a floating straw

[Cam]

It's time for Clinton to call it a day. She's lost. Done. Over. She tried hard, and Obama has still beat her. Her landslide in KY was met with his in OR and it's DONE.
Anything more that she does to try and win is without question, harmful to her own party.
It's not sexist.
It's not fixed.
It's just how the people voted.
Deal with it, move forward. Stop sabotaging this party.
Say it with the rest of us:

OBAMA '08!

[foo]

I am disgusted by someone who thinks she knows better than the voters who should be the nominee. Following that logic, the Democrats don't need any voters for anything because the smart politicians are super, and can ignore the voters, and override the voters wishes, whenever needed. Maybe not whenever - if it is something important, right? Obviously the election is the most important thing to Hillary. More important than the economy, the war, education, health care or any other less important political issues like that. If this is what the Democrats think of me as a voter - I WANT NOTHING TO DO WITH THE DEMOCRATS - PERIOD.

[JJ-VA]

Hillary might not be the nominee of democrats. That doesn't change my mind about her. I respect her even more by how she doesn't quit in face of the most terrible chorus of attacks. It changes my mind about the democrats. I'll no longer blindly support them just because they are more compassionate of the two parties, as it's obvious from this campaign this party is run by fools. The party is the dysfunctionally chaotic, pulled by interests from all sides and easily manipulated by media with phobia of having a smart woman in the office. USA-Today reported we are now over 60 trillion in liabilities as a nation which means each one of us is over $500,000 in debt. The media doesn't tell you that. Most of the media pundits focused on was Hillary's personality, Bill's helping or not blablah. It's a disservice to the public and the nation got brainwashed and picked an inexperience Obama. Well, good luck, I bet we'll be further down the debt hole with this guy who has no idea, no experience but talk. Talk is cheap. Come November, I'll just write in Hillary's name and I hope she run independent.

[roselyn]

Ah, here are the good ole Obama nazis. Here is a question. What if the people who have already voted for Obama are all the people who ever will? That's what I think. He just does not have the political experience or depth to make his case. His health care plan won't attract new votes like hers will either. If he gets nominated enjoy it while it lasts. He will be the Titanicof Dem nominees.

[gerrrg]

Hillary has little option but to bow out. The split-wins ring hollow with super-delegates, most of whom are politics-driven to end it now so that we can focus on the General. How fascinatingly ironic.

At this point, no one is willing to listen to Hillary, having filled their heads with the words of an excellent orator with an attractive rhetoric.

And at some point in the near-future, the political pundits shall be wondering...does Obama present something of a Kennedy-esque aura where the youth have finally latched onto American Politics? For the past 20 years that I have been a registered voter, I've seen Democrats attempt to court the youth vote, only to be severely disappointed by their turnout (of my generation).

[tk]

HISTORY is indeed the key word here, because history is about to be made. In the process all the trusty stats politicians and journalists thought they could count on are going to go out the door. We're sick of being duped and only the stupidest of states will vote for another 4 years of the same. In November we're kicking butts to the curb.

[NinaK]

Hilliary won both West Virginia and Kentucky because she is White, period. Those states have not moved forward with the rest of America; most of their residents still live in the pre-seventies. The people in the exit polls in both states indicated "race" was an issue and would not vote for a....man of color. So, as far as I am concerned, I certainly do want these people deciding our future President. To put it bluntly, they are racists, bigots and backwards. It is interesting that they are big on religion......I guess they attend churches that teach them to hate those who are "different"????

Washington State and Oregon are predominently White States, Senator Obama won the entire state of Washington and has done quite well in Oregon. Also, many other states where Senator Obama won are WHITE, such as Iowa, Colorado. So, for Hilliary to say he cannot win the WHITE blue collar workers is a not true. In Pennsylvania, the governor himself said the Whites would not vote for a black man. There again, the race card was played by the governor----I must admit, though, he knows his people. It is a sad thing Martin Luther King paid the ultimate price to end this sort of thing, only to have it come in full bloom in 2008. What a shame!

[ron]

obama cannot defeat Mccain,so if ya want another republican in office,don't complain,(about gas either)obama is not electable

[Enough]

I'm registered Libertarian voted Kerry '04, really I was voting against Bush. I don't vote for people I vote against them. Sen Clinton supports gas tax holiday, 300bln farm bill without reservation, wants to make it illegal to not have health insurance, and voted for the war in Iraq. Don't get me wrong lower taxes are great but not when your busy signing a 300bln domestic aid program at the same time. I think our economy is going to end up in worse shape than Sen Clinton's campaign finances.

[NinaK]

The quote mentioned in the article is from Abraham Lincoln and is fairly well-known. President Lincoln was a Kentuckian.

Posted by: Haven
---------------------
Haven, President Lincoln was from ILLINOIS and not Kentucky.

[NinaK]

Hey, all you Hillarycrats. The Clintons are supposedly the "Icons of the Democrat Party". They have been dubbed "The MIghty Clintonion Machine". Here comes the young Senator of Illinois and litterly flattens the Mighty Clintoniion Machine. ANY candidate that can beat this so-called formidable Clintons gets my standing ovation and my vote!! I liken this nomination process to the story of David and Goliath.

[jackstpaul]

So many myths are being propagated by Hillary supporters.

Experience. Obama was in the Illinois Leg. for 7 years. He'll have 4 years in Senate when he takes office. 11 years in elected office is nothing to sneeze at. Plus, it gives him 4 years of foreign policy experience--4 more than Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush combined. What great experience does Clinton have to "run the nation?"

This stuff about votes if priamries were held rather than caucuses is specious. It is wild specualtion to make the claim that he would have lost.

Sexism--as if that's Obama's doing. Look at what the Clinton camp has done with race-baiting--"hardworking white people." The surveys show what a barrier race has been for Obama, but not that sexism has been as much of a brrier for Hillary.

[NinaK]

Hilliary won both West Virginia and Kentucky because she is White, period. Those states have not moved forward with the rest of America; most of their residents still live in the pre-seventies. The people in the exit polls in both states indicated "race" was an issue and would not vote for a....man of color. So, as far as I am concerned, I certainly do NOT want these people deciding our future President. To put it bluntly, they are racists, bigots and backwards. It is interesting that they are big on religion......I guess they attend churches that teach them to hate those who are "different"????

Washington State and Oregon are predominently White States, Senator Obama won the entire state of Washington and has done quite well in Oregon. Also, many other states where Senator Obama won are WHITE, such as Iowa, Colorado. So, for Hilliary to say he cannot win the WHITE blue collar workers is a not true. In Pennsylvania, the governor himself said the Whites would not vote for a black man. There again, the race card was played by the governor----I must admit, though, he knows his people. It is a sad thing Martin Luther King paid the ultimate price to end this sort of thing, only to have it come in full bloom in 2008. What a shame!

[NinaK]

am from ky and I know exactly the card she played and it was not sexism. she and her husband know how to play ky and wv. sadly there are only a minority of whites here who can see what she is doing.

Posted by: wanda
----------------------
Wanda, thank you for confirming what most of us thought was happening. The Clintons have played the race card in one form or another throughout the campaign and ran a slash-and-burn campaign. We certainly do not need such people in the White House. Again, thank you!

[Benjamin]

roselyn - Her health care plan to attract new voters? You mean like being prosecuted if you don't buy health insurance? Yeah, that should sign up the independents and disaffected republicans in droves.

Do you know anything about her Health Care plan? Have you studied states where mandatory insurance laws have been passed and what happens to insurance prices after those laws pass? Her health care "plan" is a gimmick that would be a windfall for the insurance companies. In fact, I can already see it now, when the predictable happens and rates shoot through the roof and people are paying hefty fines for not having health insurance, she'll say it's the fault of sexists plotting to undermine her perfect plan.

And Political experience? Don't you get it? Political experience in this country means special interest already owns you. If you really want experience, McPain has more. Ron Paul has more. If experience is that important, you should be voting for one of them instead.

[Cynthia]

Clinton reminds me of a jack-in-the-box that just keeps popping out, grinning and clapping after the tune has played once again.

Each time she points to someone in the crowd, makes a "wow" face and starts applauding I wish the cameral would for once swing over and show who it is she pointing at. Is anyone there at all? Or is it an empty gesture?

[Bill Bushey]

I love that last line of how Hillary plans to keep making her case -- "until we have a nominee, whoever she may be." I honestly don't know whether to be impressed or frightened by Hillary's "never say die" tenacity.

She's MILLIONS of dollars in the red and has been fighting off calls for her to quit for MONTHS now.... yet, here she is, talking about all of the history that's being made here and how she believes to be the stronger candidate to beat McCain. Is it admirably tenacious of her to continue fighting the good fight for the good of the country... or is Hillary showing us a lust for power that no other woman in the history of America has ever displayed so blatantly?

Does she really believe she has a shot to win... or is she so afraid of what losing the Democratic nod will mean to her financially that she has no CHOICE but to press on? Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised in the least if she's staying in the race just to make as much money as possible from donations before she HAS to throw in the towel. After all, she will (theoretically) have more money from supporters if she waits to withdraw.... or waits to be officially beaten.

And I love how, just because she's a woman and he's black, there are minority cards being tossed around like frisbees. If she loses, it'll be because she's a woman. If he loses, it'll be an injustice to all African Americans.

Oddly enough, the one who will almost certainly win the presidency when the dust has settled is the crusty, old white guy. Go figure.