The Clinton Campaign Rolls On. And On. And On...

As I predicted yesterday, Hillary Clinton has taken her (admittedly impressive) victory in West Virginia as a clarion call to drag her failing campaign for the Presidency onwards. It is a curious campaign now, increasingly taking on a scorched earth feel to it. Basically, if Hillary can’t take the White House, then no Democrat will. Hell, I wouldn’t put running as an Independent past her. She’ll do anything – even handing victory to John McCain – to shaft Obama now.

Still, being a *credible* politician, Clinton has reasons why she should be the nominee, even though it is next to impossible for her to win. Apparently it is because any Democrat needs to take West Virginia to win the White House:

Reiterating a point she has made frequently while campaigning in West Virginia, Clinton pointed out Tuesday that no Democrat has won the White House since 1916 without winning West Virginia.

A few points spring to mind immediately. Clearly Democrats have won the White House without winning West Virginia, just prior to 1916. And Kerry would have won the White House in 2004 without West Virginia, had he managed to take Ohio.

Also, come the General Election campaign, Obama won’t be running against Clinton. In fact, a lot of those voters who went to Clinton yesterday will probably take their votes to Obama. The fact that Clinton has won a lot of those states in the primary contest is a magnificent irrelevance, as come the General Election the Democratic Nominee (or Obama as he will be called after the Democrat’s National Nominating Convention) will be up against a very different opponent in a very different contest.

Finally, in order for any Democrat to win the White House, they have to win the nomination for the party long before they worry about winning West Virginia. And that’s the problem that Clinton has. Obama is winning the nomination, and she isn’t.

Increasingly, the complaints and bellyaching of the Clinton campaign look a lot less like waving, and a lot more like drowning. And if Obama wants to his party a real favour, he should find a way to tie a heavy rock to the legs of the Clinton campaign, so he can witness it disappearing beneath the waves once and for all.