Of course the Clinton campaign would be pushing for him to drop out. And as a Clinton supporter, I would personally want him to drop out. But I wouldn't go so far as to actively push him out when the margin is that close. I'm not saying that there wouldn't be Clinton supporters who would be trying to do just that - like many Obama supporters are doing now - but I wouldn't be one of them. We all have a tendency to want to stop a game when we're ahead, but if we're mature and reasonable we just ignore those wishes and move on with the game.

I'm not actually talking about supporters. I'm talking about the campaign and its surrogates.

And I do believe, if their positions were reversed, the din from the Clinton campaign for Obama to get out would be long, non-stop and deafening. Surely you don't doubt that.

This race should be over before July 1, as Howard Dean said yesterday. No floor fights, no drawn-out scrapping over Michigan and Florida. It's 48 states (plus PR) and DONE.

I'm not a Hilary supporter, but I think it's a mistake for the Obama campaign and prominent Obama supporters to ask her to drop out. It will deepen divisions.

Make no mistake, I support Obama. I was happy with both candidates until the frankly vile nature of Hilary's campaign made it impossible for me to support her. I think Obama has won the nomination fair and square and that Hilary, for the good of the party and the country, should withdraw. But she has to be the one to do it.

We're in quite a dilemma because Hilary has convinced many of her followers that she has been the victim of unfair electoral processes (caucuses, counting votes and delegates from Red States, excluding Florida and Michigan even though she and the other candidates agreed to that) and nasty Obama tactics (Ken-Starr-style demands to see her tax returns and the donor lists for the Clinton library, false accusations that she and Bill in any way introduced race into the campaign, unpardonable insinuations that she ever supported NAFTA when everyone knows she's always fought to preserve union jobs in big states, casting doubt on her claims of superior executive and foreign-policy experience, not conceding she already served two terms as co-President of the United States and co-Commander-in-Chief). It appears a lot of Clinton supporters really believe she has been treated unfairly and that Obama has stolen a nomination that is rightfully hers.

Obama supporters disagree, but that doesn't matter. It's vital that Obama do everything to counter those impressions. He shouldn't suggest she withdraw. He should have worked hard to see that there were new primaries in Florida and Michigan. He should be focusing right now on making sure he doesn't pick up more caucus delegates in the Texas conventions than the original caucus votes warrant, even if Obama supporters are more enthusiastic and turn out in greater numbers.

It's counterproductive and destructive to try to make Clinton supporters say uncle. If the delegate counts were reversed, it would be destructive to try to make Obama supporters say uncle.

However, at this stage in the campaign, the trailing candidate should have the decency to do the right thing, withdraw, say the election was fair, and call on supporters to back the winner wholeheartedly. It's just that it has to come of the loser's own volition or the concession is worthless. The winning candidate will die in the fall because the losing candidate's supporters think the winner cheated. Whether she's trying to or not, Hilary couldn't have done a better job of leaving that impression. Now she needs to undo it or she'll wreck the party and hand the White House to McCain. (She also needs to stop praising McCain and trashing Obama.)

If Hilary does succeed in destroying Obama and forcing the delegates to abandon overrule voter preferences "for the sake of the party", she'll have a very hard time getting the votes of Obama supporters because of the campaign she waged. At some point, she should realize that she can only win the nomination by rendering it worthless. Likewise, she has already done so much to undermine Obama's candidacy that unless she takes forceful and prompt action to support him, the nomination will be worthless to him, too.

I think Hilary is responsible for creating both strongly disaffected factions. Only she can bring them together again. The hard part for Hilary is that she can only do it by withdrawing and withdrawing graciously. She is clearly finding that a bitter prospect.

Her recent actions are only rational at this stage if her strategy is to set up Obama to lose in 2008 so she can come back and take the nomination in 2012. It's all pretty upsetting if you think it's important to get a Democrat in the White House this year.

But trying to force Hilary and her supporters to say uncle won't help.

Already on record somewhere here saying both candidates have to stay in now. And, if I was a Obama supporter and he was in Hill's spot and quit the race? I'd be pissed! He'd have every right to be where he is. The party put this thing where it is not the candidates. If it would have been logically a race where. 1. winner takes all and 2. only dems vote in a dem primary this puppy would have been done long ago. Blame the whole party not these two.

Quote: "And the proof of your comment is where? Show me data that exactly says that the race will be lost by going to a convention. The sheer amount of focus on Democrats will be incredible. McLiberman will never be able to push through that. Think about the run up. All networks all the time will be there discussing our candidates and issues...Take it from an old timer...its about time to go back to our roots.a'

What happened in 1968? Not jut the convention, but the GE.

Look. The convention these days is set up to be a pep rally, to unite the party. I assume, or would hope, if it were actually part of the determination process it would be set earlier than August so that our nominee could have more than a couple months to bind his or her wounds and defeat John McCain, who will have already had over four months to define himself with the help of a compliant media.

Lifelongdem -- The rest of your note is excellent too. I do have some doubts about this point though:

"Her recent actions are only rational at this stage if her strategy is to set up Obama to lose in 2008 so she can come back and take the nomination in 2012."

I've heard that and think it's possible. But I also think it's possible that she just really thinks she can win it and that, win or lose, she personally is powerful enough to undo any damage she has done. To a certain extent, I guess you have to think that way to be competitive -- but I also think she's so inflexible and rigid that she ends up thinking that way for way too long, well past the point where there's any truth to it.

Humor one more on 68. Go to the link and do the state by state data....Its classic stuff. Thought provoking of what we were then.....We've got to find a way to go back to being that bigger tent that allows a lot of different ideas to identify with being a Democrat....It hasn't happened since before that election.

Quote: "What do you think, not about her staying in the race, but about the way she's conducting the race while she stays in?"

I'm really appalled! This willingness to just throw stuff out there, knowing that, even when it's discounted (such as, most recently, the claims about Obama not having been been a law professor or taking money from oil companies), there will still be residual damage to Obama and little blowback on Hillary, so that somehow makes the initial lie worth it. "All in the game," as I suppose they would say.

And you make a good comparison: Has anyone on the Republican side that any of the Democratic candidates was more qualified, more patriotic or a better candidate than any of his fellow Republicans? It seems unthinkable.

Quote: "My analogy works quite well thank you."

Actually it doesn't. Buying a lottery ticket after the lottery is over is like trying to vote in your state's primary election after it's over. It is not like voting in your own primary but before some other state's primary.

Further, I'm pretty sure I couldn't walk into 7-11 and buy a ticket for last night's lottery. That you might be willing to sell me something that you called a ticket for last night's lottery doesn't change that.