Hillary Clinton was in Detroit today pleading for a new vote. The visit smacks of desperation. She needs a game changer and Michigan was her last hope. Now, comes word via Ben Smith that the re-vote in Michigan is dead.
Here's how NBC's First Read described Clinton's predicament this morning:
Her desire to make this case is obvious: Clinton needs these do-over contests in Florida and Michigan -- and needs to win them by big margins -- to convince superdelegates that she should be the nominee. The question is: Will primary voters in other states care about this issue? (Or will they see this as pure politics, given the fact that Clinton never spoke up about Michigan and Florida until right before the South Carolina primary?)
Clinton is not getting the do-over contests. It's over.
Last week, listening to her interview on NPR, I knew Clinton had jumped the shark. That's the interview where she described how fair the January 15th Michigan primary was. I found a YouTube video with the audio -- it's really worth a listen:
The Clinton campaign is running out of tricks. The race is basically over. With yesterday's speech, Obama essentially clinched the Democratic nomination. Clinton can't win the nomination. Sure, she'll win Pennsylvania by 15 - 20 points. She has Governor Rendell, the mayors of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and now, John Murtha, on her side. Let Pennsylvania be her last hurrah. She can go out on a victory. It's time to wrap this up and get into the battle with McCain.
