Between Barack and a Hard Place

Hillary Clinton can’t win the Democratic nomination, Charlie Cook concedes in the National Journal, but if she keeps winning primaries, she’s stuck in “political purgatory:" She can’t quit, either. The primary system is such that for all Clinton's big-state victories and the media flak buffeting Barack Obama, she can’t possibly turn the ship around—but she can't go home either.

“Everything she has needed to happen is happening now,” Cook observes, but the situation is “horrible” for the still-trailing former first lady. What should she do, stand up and say, “Thank you, Pennsylvania, for this great victory. Oh, by the way, I’m now dropping out”? The 2012 race will likely have better rules, but for now, Clinton’s stuck. (More Hillary Clinton stories.)