Putting the 'Stale' in Stalemate

RALEIGH, N.C. Barack Obama needed to "close the deal" by beating Hillary Clinton in Indiana and North Carolina. Clinton needed a "game-changer" so that she could have a viable path to the presidential nomination.

But no deal closed and no game changed Tuesday night.

Obama's big win in North Carolina, coupled with Clinton's squeaker in Indiana, adds to a sense that his nomination is inevitable. But the split decision also gave Clinton a reason to remain in the race and force the party's superdelegates to decide it.

In other words, there is no exit plan. We're going to West Virginia! And we're going to Oregon and Kentucky! And we're going to Puerto Rico and Montana and South Dakota! Yeeaarrgghh!

Read the whole Sketch

-- Dana Milbank

By Dana Milbank |  May 7, 2008; 12:00 AM ET
Previous: The Twilight of a Presidency | Next: All Over but the Shouting

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Haven't I seen this movie before? Oh yeah, 'the sixth sense' she is dead but doesn't know it. Where is Haley Joel Osment?

Posted by: tydicea | May 7, 2008 3:26 PM

Wow, what a terrible post. No offense, but it's hard to imagine being more wrong. Was this really written at midnight last night? Could you not see that Indiana would be very very close, basically ending Clinton's campaign? Everyone else did.

Posted by: CapHill | May 7, 2008 4:06 PM

Nobody but the Clintons would have taken the Rush Limbaugh "Republican two-step" in Indiana as a legitimate reason to continue a ego-driven, seriously flawed campaign. Obviously the cash-flushed Clintons can afford to pop millions of dollars into the campaign that is essentially brain-dead.

It is their money, that they loaned another $6.4 million of to themselves. But, they ought think about the sincere "little folk" that they say they love so much. Many of them may be using milk money, or health insurance money, or high-priced gas money to help finance the Clinton folly.

As a former President many of us used to respect Bill Clinton. But, no more. To many of us, Bill Clinton is just another pimp, preying on the innocence and naivete of a believing American public.

Have the Clinton's no decency? (That is, of course, a rhetorical question.)

Posted by: hwilfong | May 7, 2008 4:15 PM

Milbank is a brain-dead jackass

Posted by: miked | May 7, 2008 4:51 PM

As her campaign slogs on, getting more hopeless by the day, Senator Clinton is starting to look less like a gutsy, determined fighter and more like someone who refuses to be influenced by reality. Do we really want another president who insists that everything is just fine when its all collapsing around her, and who calls on her supporters to stay the course, no matter how destructive that course may be?

Posted by: Norm Phelps | May 7, 2008 4:59 PM

Obama supporters can complain about Hillary not backing out when "its all collapsing around her" but not the Press. If the Press had done it's job and insisted that she describe how she could win back in February, we wouldn't be here now. You folks made your bed, now get in your jammies and go to sleep!

Posted by: thebob.bob | May 7, 2008 5:41 PM

Such vile and uncalled for rhetoric is absurd. Tim Russett is named as suggesting Hillary quit, well, if you listened to his hateful questioning during the debates, it would sound strange he would encourage Hillary to do anything else. Why shouldn't 17-20 million voters have their choice continue to the end of the contest? What harm do you suppose this causes? Could it be that the belief that OB can not win against McCain without her delegates and constituancy. I personally couldn't in good conscience vote for OB. I know very little about his character, and less about his political experience.

Posted by: Russ | May 28, 2008 2:58 PM

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