2008 Slog Poll: What Should Hillary Do?
posted by on March 3 at 12:05 PM
This question gets a little bit ahead of the facts. But it’s worth asking because so many people have been talking in recent days about what Hillary Clinton should do after tomorrow’s contests in delegate-rich Texas and Ohio. (Oh, and in delegate-poor Rhode Island and Vermont, too.)
There are a lot of possible scenarios for March 4. Clinton could lose both Ohio and Texas. She could win Ohio but lose Texas. Or she could win Ohio, win the Texas primary, and lose the Texas caucus. (Because, in an arrangement that makes Washington’s caucus-and-primary madness look brilliant, Texas has both a Democratic caucus and a Democratic primary, both on the same day, both of them counting toward delegate apportionment.)
Clinton suggested today that she’ll fight on no matter what happens tomorrow, saying: “I’m just getting warmed up.”
But for the purposes of this poll, let’s take as our starting point the marker that Bill Clinton laid down in late February. That is, that Hillary Clinton probably can’t be the nominee if she doesn’t win both Ohio and Texas tomorrow.
Which brings us to the question. Read it carefully so you know what you’re answering:
If Hillary Clinton loses both Ohio and Texas tomorrow, should she drop out of the race?
Yepperz.
Given the timing, this is nothing more than mental masturbation. There really is real news happening today you could be writing about. But, for the record, yes.
A better poll would have been "Under what conditions should Hillary Clinton drop out of the race after tomorrow?"
The options could go something like this:
Better question: if Hillary drops out of the race, how long will it take her to divorce Bill?
She can't drop out. Mark Penn wants a new yacht.
@3: Agree, with maybe some specifics on which state does what. Because the "meaning" of winning Ohio versus Texas would seem to be different.
I voted yes. It would be a supreme waste of money to continue after such a loss, and expensive temper tantrums leave a bad taste in my mouth.
McCain is pretty much a shoo-in, a double loss would send a clear message that it is time to make this a two-person race.
Is it me, or does her campaign remind me of high school? Her attempts to "micro-target" tiny demographics is so transparently obvious, I wonder how people continue to support her.
Watching her run this campaign has convinced me she is the democratic version of Bush. She has surrounded herself with the same kinds of nitwits bush did and both live in a isolated bubble, safe from reality.
She should never drop out. Never! She should keep going past the Democratic Convention, past the general election, and even past inauguration. THIS IS TOO IMPORTANT!
Plus, her ads are the bomb. I don't want that to stop. And I've even heard she is making SNL funny again, if you can believe that.
If she doesn't pull 65% of the vote in Texas and Ohio, she should concede. She's hurting the party. Millions of dollars have been spent in this primary fight that could have gone toward countering the upcoming Republican Slander Machine.
Furthermore, her current negative, character-assassination approach to campaigning shows a lack of character (according to her, Obama isn't a muslim "so far as I know?" Give me a break).
Her latest campaign maneuverings and tactics represent the first wave of Republican attack on Obama. If anyone should be ashamed, it should be her. Talk about going against core Democratic values.
Why is she still in this thing, really? As I said in the Texas debate live slog: Obama seems like he's in this because he wants to win. Hillary seems like she's still in this simply because she doesn't want to lose.
People are too fixated on who "wins" or not, without considering the real chase, which is delegates. A wafer-thin margin in either state is a null result; they'll get approximately the same number of delegates. What you get for finishing first in a state is ZERO. Clinton needs large wins in both OH and TX; if she gets less than a 30-50 delegate surplus over Obama tomorrow, it's all over except for the superdelegates, who are going to end up slightly for Obama.
I voted Yes, but should point out if she drops out we'll stop hearing about the issues so much.
Like this national debate on the economy.
And how GWB thinks gas costs $2 a gallon ...
Hillary is too proud and tenacious to drop out. Based on today's polls, she may win Ohio handily, and could even pull out a squeaker in Texas (though probably loose the delegate total in the caucus). I think we're stuck with a 2-person race. ARRRGGGGHH!
Will, once she drops out you'll here *more* issues, not less. You cannot have an issues war in the primary because both players have the same opinion. You can play issues war in the general because the other guy has WAY different opinions on those issues.
The general election will be far more exciting because it will be a true war of ideas. Hillary needs to get out because I'm bored as hell the primary... our team needs to sell our ideas to the general public not just sit around and have a circle jerk in the primary.
Hopefully, we'll do the right thing and nominate a good sales person. Republicans sell us their ideas and values and we have history tried selling them our homework assignment (policy positions) in response.
#3 has a much better poll.
The chances of hillary losing *both* states are pretty small, no?
Don't forget that Pennsylvania is Hillary country too, and that's a sizeable number of delegates. No, even if everything goes her way, she won't have enough delegates for an outright win . . . but neither will Obama.
She will win both! Look at the latest polls.
Better Poll:
After Tuesday, should Sen Clinton:
A. Drop out in disgrace
B. Resign her Senate seat for running disgraceful attack ads against President Obama
C. Serve on the US Supreme Court for the rest of her life as punishment for her disgraceful attack ads against President Obama
or
D. Go home and bake cookies for President Clinton while her daughter gets ready for her two terms in office come 2020.
Gabe Global@4:
15 minutes, but then he'll be free to move toCT and run for Lieberman's seat.
You can never get rid of us Clintonites. You smash us to pieces and there's just more of us out there triangulating.
-T
Actually, tomorrow's vote is much ado about nothing.
Ohio and Texas, while big delegate states, are both proportional. That means that if Hillary gets 51% of the vote and Obama gets 49% of the vote, she'll get 51% of the delegates and he'll get 49% of the delegates.
So realistically, unless one of them really blows the other out of the water, at the end of the day tomorrow, they'll both still be roughly even in delegate counts. A minor win by either of them will mean very little.
I'm ready for this primary to be over, but unless Hillary gets totally creamed tomorrow, I don't see a compelling reason for her to drop out until after Pennsylvania.
Hillary Clinton should drop out if and when she's good and ready. In the unlikely event she loses both tomorrow, she won't have any money (and consequently, any staff or media) to continue, anyway, so who cares?
It's all about Vermont.
Hils should win there by a 75 to 25 percent landslide.
Puerto Rico is the real prize, their delegates will be in larger blocs than the normal democratic primary
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