AP: Time Running Out for Clinton

I got a chuckle out of the AP headline “Analysis: Time, delegate math working against Clinton.”

Like, this is news? The story didn’t add much light, either:

Time is running out on Hillary Rodham Clinton, the long-ago front- runner for the Democratic presidential nomination who now trails Barack Obama in delegates, states won and popular votes. Compounding Clinton’s woes, Obama appears on track to finish the primary campaign fewer than 100 delegates shy of the 2,025 needed to win.

Clinton argues to Democratic officialdom that other factors should count, an unprovable assertion that she’s more electable chief among them. But she undercut her own claim in Wednesday night’s debate, answering “yes, yes, yes” when asked whether her rival could win the White House.

There’s little if any public evidence the party’s elite, the superdelegates who will attend the convention, are buying her argument anyway.

Goodness, we’ve known this for months. She was, by her own admission, pretty much cooked if she didn’t win both Ohio and Texas. She won both primaries but actually got fewer delegates in Texas than Obama. So, now, every state is do-or-die for Clinton. And even narrow wins likely won’t win it for her. But, again, we knew that. And it’s been six weeks since the last primary!

The only real news is that Obama seems to be this era’s Teflon Kid. Clinton has been betting that Obama’s inexperience would result in some major gaffes that would convince the party elites that he’s not ready for prime time. He has. It just hasn’t mattered.

FILED UNDER: 2008 Election, Media, , , , ,
James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. Eneils Bailey says:

    Time is running out on Hillary Rodham Clinton, the long-ago front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination.

    “Time: elusive and immediate…limited yet infinite.”
    From a Hewlett Packard add of the early 1980’s.

    This campaign for the President has been up and running too long. Look back as to where she was at nine months to twelve months ago. Just waiting for the coronation to take place. She just wanted that moment to get here as quickly as possible.

    Now, she is running out of time, only to see herself a victim of a system that gave an upstart too much time.

  2. Eneils Bailey says:

    The only real news is that Obama seems to be this era’s Teflon Kid.”

    Got that right.

    Until recently, there was little to dislike about Obama. Nice looking, well-spoken, a fresh face that made the politically in-experienced swoon and faint.

    The thing that is generating the conflicts has nothing to do with where the democrat candidates stand on policy. They both represent the far-left of political thought in this country.

    Oh yeah, HRC did vote for the War in Iraq, BHO did not. On all the other issues they represent the same thing. So, how do you draw a distinction on who to vote for? Do I vote for the white female or the black male candidate? Can’t be issues, they represent the same thing. Must be some sort of personal appeal that leads you to vote for your candidate.

    You could put both HRC and BHO in a forty-acre political pasture and tell them to pick their political spot. They would both be so close together you could swing a small paddle at either one and hit both of them squarely in the ass.

  3. yetanotherjohn says:

    The scratches on his Teflon haven’t mattered in the left leaning democratic primary, but that doesn’t mean they don’t matter. From a GOP stance, it would be better if this was happening in September/October. Every punch Hillary lands now is going to be “old news” by then. On the other hand, the problems Obama has dealing with anything less than mindless adulation indicate that there is a good chance he will implode next Fall.

  4. KJ says:

    On the other hand, the problems Obama has dealing with anything less than mindless adulation indicate that there is a good chance he will implode next Fall.

    True yetanotherjohn, but to carry this out to its ultimate conclusion, letting HRC self-destruct will accomplish a far more important goal of the democratic party getting rid of the Clintons once and for all. That is far more important than loosing one presidential election.

  5. Bandit says:

    Times running out on all of us so we all should remember to count our blessings every day.