Hillary’s ready for the glue factory

It was fitting Hillary Clinton instructed her daughter to bet Eight Belles at the Kentucky Derby on Saturday.

The only filly in the Run for the Roses pushed her heart to the limit. But her aggressive breeding led not just to a second-place finish but to two broken ankles.

Clinton bred herself for the current political climate well, and she has only hardened in her resolve to prove that lineage. She has mastered the fine art of triangulation and glossing over lies as simple misspoken lines from her careful political script.

But her ultimate second-place finish could come at a price similar to the one paid by Eight Belles. In American politics, it could mean a Democratic nominee so hobbled that the party's bid for the White House ends in misery, as did Saturday's first leg of the Triple Crown.

Clinton has stayed in the race largely to prove herself. And after an impressive victory in blue-collar and redneck parts of Pennsylvania -- aided by Barack Obama's bitterness -- Clinton sharpened her attacks.

In the week leading up to the April 22 primary in Pennsylvania, Clinton operatives helped stoke the Rev. Jeremiah Wright story and floated others that picked up traction.

By the time the results trickled out, voters saw Obama as an unpatriotic man trying to stand in the way of history. So much for the hyper-political woman standing in the way of history.

For the next two weeks the Clinton machine picked at the Obama scab, hoping it would open anew each day in the 24-7 news hypercycle. She had neither the math nor the money to catch Obama and could hope only that she'd win the nomination by sullying her opponent so much that he would lose it.

So now Clinton pours more of her money into the pit of her campaign and moves on to the mines of Appalachia, her effort drawing its last breaths -- not unlike so many of the small towns and voters whom she hopes will keep her on oxygen a bit longer.

It was odd watching Clinton's assertions Tuesday night from Indiana that it's "full speed to the White House." Never mind the iceberg. Meanwhile, her husband lurked, red-faced and distracted behind her, at times seeming on the verge of tears.

Even if there were some infinitesimal chance for Clinton to win the nomination before Tuesday's primaries in North Carolina and Indiana, the voters have finally said, "We've had enough."

Despite an aggressive campaign in the Tar Heel State at the height of Obama's worst three weeks, Clinton lost there by 15 points. And despite trying to divide red state Indiana the way she carved up blue state Pennsylvania, the Hoosiers weren't having it Tuesday. Clinton's victory, by just 2 percentage points, was a net gain of four delegates.

On Wednesday, the first trickle of Clinton backers began to flow toward Obama, with George McGovern switching allegiances and telling the junior senator from New York that it's time for her to drop out.

Some might argue it's long past time.

The Clinton campaign has been changing the metrics that matter since Super Tuesday. First it was more states don't matter. Then it was more pledged delegates don't matter. Then it was the popular vote doesn't matter.

Then, when Pennsylvania voters gave her a 200,000-vote victory, the popular vote began to matter again. Big states were the new goal.

Now the only goal can be to completely tarnish Obama so that Clinton can finally win the nomination in 2012 and go at septuagenarian John McCain.

Clinton should simply bow out quietly, but we know she wants to prove she can again beat Obama.

So it's onward to West Virginia and Kentucky.

And when Obama has that magic number of delegates, perhaps by May 20, Clinton can finally stand down. Of course, May 20 isn't just when Obama-friendly Oregon votes, it's when her old Kentucky friends come home for her last stand.

Then what will Clinton really do for the nominee in those big states she won -- places such as Ohio and Pennsylvania? And what will she really do for the states she half-won, Florida and Michigan?

Maybe it'll sink in before the kitchen sink gets thrown again. But when you're in it to win it, it ain't easy losing.

Clinton proved she's as ruthless a political creation as any man in politics, but with the added benefit of wearing a skirt. She can cry on cue even as she insists there's no gender card.

Now, though, it's time for Clinton to leave the race, and it's time for Nevada's four unaffiliated superdelegates to back the candidate who will earn the nomination. But more than that, it's time for Clinton and Obama supporters, as unlikely as that seems, to come together and stop what Obama portends will be the third term of George Bush -- John McCain.

Otherwise, the gallant second-place finish by Clinton will be little more than a footnote to the political equivalent of a Bush Triple Crown.

Contact Erin Neff at (702) 387-2906, or by e-mail at eneff@reviewjournal.com.