6 Routes Off Into the Sunset

Politico scribe sets out possible paths for Clinton between now and Aug.
By Jonas Oransky,  Newser Staff
Posted May 12, 2008 1:50 PM CDT
6 Routes Off Into the Sunset
Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.   (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

With Hillary Clinton’s chances of beating her rival all but shot, Ben Smith, on Politico, runs down the graceful and non-graceful ways to exit:

  • Never say die: If Clinton can stomach shrinking coffers and departing supporters, she can bide time until the convention, ensuring that lightning hasn’t struck Barack Obama before she concedes.

  • Extract a job: If not the VP slot or a cabinet post, maybe Hillary wants a promise that Obama will support her for New York governor in 2010.
  • Cash out: If Clinton’s people don’t think Obama can win, maybe he’s only good for helping her pay off a sizable debt. Cue the counterintuitive fundraising push.
  • Kicking and screaming: Al Gore, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Charles Schumer still hold influence cards.
  • Racial meltdown: If her top black supporters left, she’d be fatally pegged as racially divisive—and forced to step off.
  • Unconditional surrender: Who wants to be on a president’s bad side? Maybe Clinton should start currying favor by taking the next off-ramp.
(More Hillary Clinton stories.)

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