In her speech tonight, Clinton pledged to stay in the race. The question is, why?

Because she can't conceive of a universe in which she doesn't become the Democratic nominee and, eventually, president. Her campaign was essentially predicated upon her ascending to the throne by Divine Right, and the fact that that isn't happening is simply a mental construct that she is incapable of getting her head around.

To paraphrase Obama*, Hillary is bitter and is therefore clinging to her presidential run.

* For the purposes of full disclosure, I am not an Obama supporter.

We've already seen a couple Demcratic Party operatives abandon the sinking campaign liner. I predict that in the next two weeks, we will see one or two more quit the Hillary campaign. Once you see the professional political operators quitting, you'll know the end is near for her campaign.

She is favored to win in West Virginia. Obama is favored in Oregon. I think if she wins even one or two more states, she is not going to drop out at all. I think, being unable to accept the fact that the eight year campaign she has waged to get the nomination (which she somehow believes will automatically win her the election) has not succeeded, she's going to take it all the way to the convention and a floor fight. Remember, those so-called "pledged" delegates are only bound to the candidates for the first round of voting. If neither one has enough votes to capture the nomination, after that first round all hell is going to break loose. It will be the kind of political convention the parties had in the 19th Century, that we haven't seen in anyway 60 or 80 years. It will be great fun to watch. But I think that kind of a fight and the wheeling and dealing in promised rewards when the candidate win the presidency also is going to doom whichever candidate eventually wins the nomination.

It will be the best political theater of the 21st Century so far, but as I said I think it will wind up torpedoing whichever candidate wins the nomination in the general election.

Cyrano:

We've already seen a couple Demcratic Party operatives abandon the sinking campaign liner. I predict that in the next two weeks, we will see one or two more quit the Hillary campaign. Once you see the professional political operators quitting, you'll know the end is near for her campaign.

She is favored to win in West Virginia. Obama is favored in Oregon. I think if she wins even one or two more states, she is not going to drop out at all. I think, being unable to accept the fact that the eight year campaign she has waged to get the nomination (which she somehow believes will automatically win her the election) has not succeeded, she's going to take it all the way to the convention and a floor fight. Remember, those so-called "pledged" delegates are only bound to the candidates for the first round of voting. If neither one has enough votes to capture the nomination, after that first round all hell is going to break loose. It will be the kind of political convention the parties had in the 19th Century, that we haven't seen in anyway 60 or 80 years. It will be great fun to watch. But I think that kind of a fight and the wheeling and dealing in promised rewards when the candidate win the presidency also is going to doom whichever candidate eventually wins the nomination.

It will be the best political theater of the 21st Century so far, but as I said I think it will wind up torpedoing whichever candidate wins the nomination in the general election.

Right. Again, the bottom line is that it's always been about Hillary. She would rather take a scorched earth approach to selecting the Democratic nominee than concede that the eventual nominee might not be her. It's essentially blackmail. It's either her way or the highway. By continuing to contest the nomination, and by creating the specter of a floor fight at the convention, Hillary's essentially daring the DNC to *not* select her. The ironic thing is, her scorched earth approach will essentially mean that *no* Democratic nominee wins in November. Or maybe that's the point.

...but I think you might be right. That's a shame. I would have been happy with Barack, Hillary or John. An Obama/Hillary ticket seems out of the question. I heard one guy say I'd hate to be president if Hillary were VP - God only knows what she'd do, -- I really didn't want to agree but weeks later I have to say, I think he might be right too.

Not a chance in hell.

There are only two candidates in the race. Ergo, someone (actually, Obama) WILL have a majority. There may of course be a handful who insist on voting for Edwards or Gore or something, but the likelihood of that small number denying Obama a majority isn't worth considering. Especially as the superdelegates will continue to move toward Obama, giving him well over the total he needs long before the convention.

All Hillary will do if she takes it much further is humiliate herself, and destroy any possibility she might have in 2012.