It's The Delegate Math, Senator Clinton!

To her credit, Sen. Hillary Clinton did win all three primaries in Texas, Ohio and Rhode Island this week.  Even so, she is still behind in the race for delegates.   Sen. Barack Obama now has 1,344 pledged delegates and 202 super delegates in his pocket, for a grand total of 1,546 delegates, to Clinton's 1,208 pledged delegates and 241 superdelegates, for a grand total of 1,449 delegates.  Sure, Sen. Clinton leads in the number of superdelegates (her wing and a prayer), but she is still lagging (by 136) in the pledged delegates category, which to me is a much better indication of who Democratic America want as its presidential candidate come the fall. 

You may recall the ubiquitous phrase "It's the economy, stupid!" coined by Bill Clinton and his campaign staff during his first presidential bid in 1992 against George H.W. Bush.  Well, by now, it should be apparent to Sen. Clinton (and Bill, too) that her delegate count is still not where it needs to be for her to secure the presidential nomination nod outright--if at all.  So despite her slow coming victories yesterday, she is still losing the race to Senator Obama fair and square.  Even with her recent wins, I still think it's time for her to accept the loss and concede the race to Senator Obama with poise and grace. 

However, in the back of our minds we all know that Hillary Clinton is not going to go down without a fight, literally.  Because that's what she is--a fighter.  Sometimes, even a forlorn fighter just doesn't recognize when it's time to throw in the towel.  Given her moxie, and Bill's nudging, I have a feeling that the Democratic Party nomination nod will ultimately be decided during a superdelegate smack down at the upcoming Democratic National Convention this August in Denver.  A ticket to this summer's convention is going to be hotter than a ticket to P. Diddy's White Party in the Hamptons.  You don't want to miss this one!  In the future, the number one pop culture question will be, "Where we you when the lights went out in Denver, Colorado?"  If Hillary doesn't abandon her presidential ambitions now, the 2008 Democratic National Convention will go down in history as "The Greatest Show on Earth," hands down.  It will get ugly...and rightly so.   

She won't concede to Obama because, in her mind, she's feels she's fighting the good fight for the American people and, more importantly, herself.  Thus, in the face of real and looming mathematical odds, she is still keeping hope alive.  Remember, in her mighty "hope chest" she has those uncounted ballots in Florida and Michigan that favored her, which she will eventually ask, then demand, be counted to put her over the top.  To that I say, good luck, sister!  If she (or Julian Bond, of the NAACP) thinks those January ballots are going to be counted, they've got another thing coming.  That's going to be an uphill battle.  

A Feb. 11 op-ed in the Wall Street Journal written by Theodore Olson urged Sen. Obama to contact him for legal assistance. Olson, the former solicitor general of the United States and the legal eagle who helped George W. Bush become the president in 2000, offered his asstance to stop Clinton from getting her wins in Florida and Michigan -- where Senator Obama wasn't even on the ballot -- recognized.  Olson, of all people, would definitely know how to get these false victories tossed out on their ears.  You don't stand a chance when the GOP lawyer who made George Bush our current president, via legal repartee, is offering his services to your Democratic opponent with no clear quid pro quo.

Clinton remains hopeful because she truly believes that her superdelegate loyalist cronies will deliver the party's nomination to her.  I wouldn't count on that if I were in her, because some of those superdelegate cronies are starting to jump ship faster than the Pirates of the Caribbean. 

I was recently in Atlanta when civil rights stalwart Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) saw the light (or heard a voice) that led him to follow his conscience and support Sen. Obama's campaign.  I now suspect that a great many Clinton superdelegate loyalist are going to be feeling the "spirit of change" wash over their hearts, minds, and souls in the coming weeks, leading them to finally follow their true conscience.  Clinton might as well kiss those superdelegates goodbye now; just go on and subtract them from her column and add them to Senator Obama's column.  

At the start of this race, Senator Clinton was confident, even cocky, that she had the black, Hispanic, white female, blue collar, low-income votes on lock-down.  That's starting to change, and similarly her lead among superdelegates will change too.  Because at the end of the day, Democratic superdelegates don't want to be caught on the "wrong" side of the party line because it will simply be too difficult for them to justify why they were out of bounds -- and out of sync -- when the polls long ago identified Senator Obama as the clear choice to guide the party's larger agenda.  A few months ago Clinton thought she had this race in the bag, now she finds herself looking for reasons to buttress why she's still in a LOSING race.  

It is time for Sen. Clinton to realize that this race is not about her or her ego wants or needs. It's about America and what the American people want and need.  To Sen. Clinton I say: You gave it your all, but now you must look at the numbers, il riposo es loquitur.