I doubt she'll drop out. Frankly, she has too much debt to drop right now. Here's what I think will happen:

-she stays in through Oregon, raising money, but not really trying to hard
-she wins KY and WV
-Obama wins SD, MT, and OR
-enough Superdels declare between now and 5/20 (OR) that the OR vote pushed Obama over the top.
-Clinton acknowledges and "drops" after June 1 (Puerto Rico)
-Sometime in early June she endorses Obama

No way will she drop out.

She needs to stay in the race! I want that $.18 per gallon off at the pump!! Captain Hope doesn't care about us non-elites.

Porkchop Sandwiches for president!

Best handle ever.

She'll drop out the same day Ron Paul drops out on the GOP race.

I love how the Democrats, in my mind, have replaced the pre-2004 Red Sox in the sense that they seem to know how to grasp defeat out of the jaws of victory. Nice job, guys! Now get back in your Prius and head to your PETA meeting. When did the Democrats get so co-opted by bleeding heart know-nothings.

she drops out after Oregon and Kentucky...

i want my ballot to count!

Erik, I was going to ask President Dukakis that exact same question.

When is McCain going to drop out? I hate that motherfucker.

has politics really invaded the sparkly indie pop press? please say it isn't so.

The Duke! Remember folks, never nominate a candidate for president from Massachusetts, unless you can go back in time and find JFK, John Adams or maybe Julia Child.

BTW, Hills announced today she is, in fact, not dropping out. So on we go! I feel kind of bad for her now, she's sort of like Reese Witherspoon from Election.

Pick Flick!

I heart Election, a lot.

This self absorbed, me first, fight to the end crap is exactly what this country does not need and it's the reason that she lost a nomination that she pretty much had in her pocket a year ago.

Erik: JFK = John Forbes Kerry, no?

I'm probably the biggest Hillary supporter on the TIG staff for numerous reasons I've already explained but she's gotta drop out soon. I know it hurts her pride to give up, but it's over.

I don't think the primary battle is bad for the country or the Democratic Party but what I think would be bad is if Hillary loses the delegate count after all the states have voted and leans on the super-delegates to vote for her and give her the nomination. The super-delegates should only be bound to vote their consciences and I think the petitions aimed at Sens. Cantwell and Murray are nothing short of ridiculous, but there would be a whole lot more voters who become bitter to add to those working class people in Pennsylvania who go to church or own firearms.

"What I think would be bad is if Hillary loses the delegate count after all the states have voted and leans on the super-delegates to vote for her and give her the nomination."

Agreed. While I'm an Obama supporter, I admire Hillary's tenacity... but yes, the time has come, and gracefully exiting would be the best thing for all involved. I feel for her though -- I can't imagine how it must feel to invest so much time and effort (and over 10 million dollars of her own money, too), and then to lose.

I hate to go all "fuck the media" on this one, but seriously, fuck the media.

I have now lost respect for even CNN, the only American news cable broadcast I had some faith in. A year ago, they were labeled "Clinton News Network" because, they gave Clinton a lot of press. Then that dropped because they were called out on it.

Then they started running pointless stories and blogs about things like Obama not wearing flag lapels, etc.

Then they just flat out started endorsing Obama without ever out-and-out saying it. Once again, they were called out on it.

So what do they do? They overcompensate by beating this Rev. Wright thing to death AND pretending Hillary still has some logical chance. The reverend incident was dead and gone, Obama had a reaction speech. End of story...? No. They brought it up again before the last two primary Tuesdays.

I heard a month or two ago on TV someone mention, "Shouldn't you be reporting on things the people bring up and are concerned about, instead of telling people what they should be concerned about?"

I just think it's absurd how much weight the media can play into the election, and thus the future of America, and how much they will affect un/undereducated voters.

Did I mention, McCain doesn't get any attention (let alone negative attention) thanks to all this Democrat debacle.

I'll be damned if the liberal media is singlehandedly responsible for another conservative president.

I don't hate Hillary. I'd still vote for her if she's the candidate. I just wish she'd drop out with dignity and a little money left in her pocket.

Sorry if I just turned this into a CNN message board.

While we're at it, McCain has received his fair share of endorsements from wacky religious types (Hagee, Falwell). Sure would be nice if we heard a little bit more about that in the media.

On the off chance that you aren't familiar with Pastor Hagee, here's one of his better quotes:

"All hurricanes are acts of God, because God controls the heavens. I believe that New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God, and they are -- were recipients of the judgment of God for that. The newspaper carried the story in our local area that was not carried nationally that there was to be a homosexual parade there on the Monday that the Katrina came. And the promise of that parade was that it was going to reach a level of sexuality never demonstrated before in any of the other Gay Pride parades. So I believe that the judgment of God is a very real thing. I know that there are people who demur from that, but I believe that the Bible teaches that when you violate the law of God, that God brings punishment sometimes before the day of judgment. And I believe that the Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans."

All those who aren't lunatics, please step forward. Not so fast Mr. Hagee.

Wasn't the only place ironically (in relation to this argument) not to be obliterated by the Hurricane, the "homosexual" area of the city?

http://www.sovo.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=4197

She won't drop out, she's too stubborn. But she's mathematically impossible, so she may just...disappear.

Maybe just sprinkle her with water and she'll melt. Or land a house on her. Either one'll work.

"Land a house on her." How classy.

You know, I think it's really funny that Hillary is depicted as this evil bitch (a "monster" said one of Obama's top foreign policy advisers - who rightfully quit because of it) and that her supporters will stoop to anything but I've never once heard a Hillary supporter say they wished death upon Obama.

A new kind of politics, indeed.

@20 ChrisB

Oh give me a break and get off your high horse. He called her a witch using "Wizard of Oz" references. He never said he wished her dead, so calm down and don't put words into people's mouths.

I don't agree with the name calling myself but I don't think calling Clinton a witch is any worse than Clinton supporters calling Obama "prince" or "elitist", etc.

Oh sigh.

Can't we all just get along?

No matter what, Hills deserves our respect for her service to the country. I might not like her, but a lot of that is based on my dislike of the idea what we are creating an oligarchy/aristocracy of Clintons and Bushes in the US. Sure, I like Obama better anyway, but by no means do I think we should be badmouthing Hillary. Chris, I respect your loyalty to your candidate, especially in such a pro-Obama crowd. It takes more guts than the jabs any of the Obama supporters might be hurling.

Let's concentrate on making sure we build a new kind of politics, folks, not just continue to play the Karl Rove-ian 50+1%/polarization mentality.

I get the Wizard of Oz references. I've seen the movie at least half a dozen times.

Hey, I've already said in comment 13 that I think it's time for Hillary to drop out. I just think there's a double-standard with what Obama's supporters have been able to get away with saying in the vein of "hope" or whatever it is.

Erik @ 22. Agreed. The primary campaign is all but over. It's time to unify behind defeating McCain.

BTW, Jon, this is how I read your comment: Hillary won't go away so we need to do something to get rid of her, to make sure she disappears, but I'll disguise it behind some Wizard of Oz references so that I can just say she's a witch and we all know what that sounds like.

I hope I'm wrong and just misreading it.

I was just being cutesy after Kiku said something about her "just dissapearing."

Yeah, I don't think either me or Jon were implying that we wanted Hillary to die...we were just joking around.

I don't believe you guys honestly want that, but I explained how I read the comments. I read comments on just about every blog I read that say pretty much the same thing (Slog, Wonkette, HuffPo, etc...) are they are far more vicious than they are here. I just don't think it's very graceful dancing on her (metaphorical) grave.

You won, it's now time to move on to McCain.

Anyway, I'm not commenting on the primaries any more. As I said, I think they're over.

FWIW, Lawrence O'Donnell is saying that people in the Clinton camp are telling him she'll drop out by 6/15.

I can see how ChrisB took this the way he did -- the level of vitriol directed toward Hillary is unjust. ECB at the Stranger wrote a really great piece about it here.

"More than anyone at this paper, I've hated—and if there was a stronger word, I would use it—the sexist, condescending, and just plain despicable treatment of Hillary in the press and by many Obama supporters. I've hated it every time they called her a "ball-buster" or a bitch or a fat, lesbian harpy. I've hated it every time they've compared her to a nagging wife, every time they've blamed her for her husband's infidelity, every time they've made fun of her laugh. And I hated the fact that Hillary was held to a higher standard than any male candidate would ever be held to. I want to see a competent, liberal, intelligent, tough woman in the White House in my lifetime—and Hillary could've been that woman."

I support Obama, but I agree ECB's words. So I understand why Chris is sensitive to the witch/death reference.

But yea, let's all try to get along and actually defeat the candidate who wants more war/more conservative judges/more of the same/yadda yadda...

the mariners should really bring ken griffey jr back.
and also, seriously people, let's stop buying bottled water. it tastes like plastic.

Tomo, now you're talking my language!