Inside HillDawg's Mind - May 24 2008

So, the following quotes (or some variation of them) have been attributed to have originated from Hillary Clinton in the past 2 weeks or so:

-“…I have shown to have the support of hardworking whites…”
-“…If you consider the democratic primary based on electoral votes then I have the clear majority…”
-“….If the Democratic primaries would have been based on winner take-all then I would have been the clear winner….”
-“…the popular vote should be considered since it is important to take people’s will into consideration…”
-“…considering what happened to RFK in 1968, I can’t understand why so many people want to me to step aside…”

I am not going into the analysis of these statements like so many of the so-called experts in the print media and the talking heads on TV have. To me all of these indicate one simple feeling: Desperation. She (and her coterie) is willing to say anything to stay in the race. This is not what I want to write about. What I want to examine is what exactly is going on in HillDawg’s mind right now. Here are a few possibilities and my takes:

-I want to stay in until August so that my rival’s campaign pays my $20 M debt. My take on this: not very likely. If she wants the debt to be cleared she can begin behind the scenes negotiation NOW and be taken care of. I am sure B Rack and his campaign would be ok with this considering they are doing so stellar with fund-raising. No need for her to prolong this until August just for money.

-I want to make B Rack a better candidate for the General Election by putting him through this process beforehand. My take: Bullsh*t! Not sure how you are helping a candidate by repeatedly mentioning that he can’t carry an important party base publicly and that too at every opp she gets. I think her decision to stay in until Indiana and N Carolina was a valid one. You could probably even justify staying in for WV and KY. I agree that by staying in she made B Rack a better candidate since he faced a couple of political crisis situations. But this reason is not valid anymore esp now.

-I want to leverage my good showing in the primary into seeking a senior and powerful Democratic party post (Senate Majority Leader/Powerbroker in future elections). My take: somewhat likely. Face it, she has won more primary votes than anyone in history except B Rack. More and more people seem to be coming out of the woodwork so to speak to support her-the media pays attention to the fact that B Rack is attracting young people but forgotten in this is the fact that HillDawg seems to be bringing in more women and others who would not vote otherwise. With her impressive showing in most states she can lay claim to the most powerful role in the party outside the Presidency (if B Rack does win it that is).

-I want to use this to get on B Rack’s tkt as a VEEP. My take: not likely. I just don’t see alpha dog personalities like HillDawg (or her husband) wanting to play second fiddle at any position. People like her always want to be in control. If you don’t think so, read a bit about her background. She has been laying the groundwork for a political career since she was 18 for crying out loud. Yeah she played second fiddle to Billy boy for 8 years (+8 more in AK) but she was setting things up. Plus the way she tried to influence public policy in the Clinton administration is already in the folklore. These type of people (and I don’t mean that in a bad way) can’t see themselves taking orders from others unless absolutely necessary. But then again, what do I know. Come August She might be holding B Rack’s hands in public showing her love.

-I want to stroke my ego. My take: likely. I don’t see any other logical explanation for her behavior (of course logic and politics are an oxymoron). One example of this. Apparently on the nite that she lost NC and barely won IN she was conducting an interview with the press corps on her flight when suddenly Blackberrys of her campaign staff starting blowing up. Apparently Tim Russert of NBC had just declared B Rack the winner of the primary or something final like that on NBC. So what does HillDawg do? She right away calls an impromptu meeting of her staff and without seeking any advice tells everyone: “We are going on until the last primary, no question”. Just like that she made the decision. Not sure if that was made out of spite for the rest of the world that has not agreed with her or an ego driven decision to show to the rest of the world that she will not listen to anyone. I don’t see any other evidence but the the latter reason.

How all this will affect the Democratic Party and the General Election remains to be seen.