Where Art Thou Headed Hillary?

I have already stated more than once that Hillary will not drop out of the race before the final primaries on June 3rd. Actually, she will never drop out, she will just not receive more delegate votes at the convention than Barack Obama. She knows this is the most likely outcome, she just can't say it (who would give money to a candidate who admits they probably won't win?).

So part of her reason for going forward in the way she is doing could be to keep the money flowing, although she still is probably spending it a bit faster than she can raise it, so this isn't really a financially motivated decision.

As Americans, we like people to bow out gracefully when they can't win, and yet we admire those who just won't quit. (I don't know why the rest of the world thinks Americans are a bit odd.)

So what is Hillary's game plan at this point?

Does she really think she can win? (Yes, but she realizes what would need to happen and it isn't pretty)

Is she posturing for a VP nod from Barack (maybe - more later)

Is she prepping for her next run for the Presidential nomination? (almost certainly, but this is not the dominant reason)

Is she just showing that as a non-quitter, she needs to be given everyone's respect? (I think a you betcha is appropriate here)

Is she positioning herself to be in line for Speaker of the House someday? (maybe, but that isn't plan #1 either)

So what is it? It really is very simple. When you are in a race, you run as hard as you can as long as you can and then see what happens. It is really a little bit of all of the above, but from where she is, there really is only one place to go and that is onward.

I struggled trying to recall a single candidate who dropped out of a presidential nomination race and later went on to bigger political accomplishments prior to this year. However, both Ronald Reagan in 1976 and George Bush in 1980 either pushed the eventual party nominee to the brink (Ford beat Reagan 1,187 to 1,070) or lambasted them during the primary season (Bush coined "Voodoo Economics", but still wound up being the VP choice). The exceptions are those who later became their party's nominee. Al Gore and Bob Dole both fall into this category and both eventually lost in the general election. John McCain also withdrew from the 2000 presidential nomination race and is his party's (presumptive) nominee. The precedent does not bode well for him.