Sen. Hillary Clinton at her Indiana Primary rally last night. Click the Play Button to see what Jack and our viewers had to say. (PHOTO CREDIT: AP PHOTO)
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
"The campaign may go on but the contest is now over: Barack Obama is the Democratic nominee for president."
Democratic strategist Bob Shrum tells The New York Times that now the only decision left for Hillary Clinton is how she wants to end this.
New York Daily News columnist Michael Goodwin puts it this way: "Unless Obama falls off a cliff, or the Reverend Jeremiah Wright pushes him," he will be the nominee. Another paper calls Clinton "toast."
All this points to a pretty grim scenario for Hillary Clinton. Her 14-point loss to Obama in North Carolina coupled with one of the narrowest wins of the primary season in Indiana mean Obama woke up this morning with a larger lead in both pledged delegates and the popular vote.
Plus she's out of money. In the past month, Clinton was forced to loan her campaign $6.4 million out of her own pocket.
Then there are the superdelegates, who could now start to move in larger numbers to Obama. Or even superdelegates who currently support Clinton and could switch to Obama. Finally, The New York Times suggests that senior Democrats who support Clinton – like Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell or New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine – could now ask her to consider quitting.
On all of this, Hillary Clinton is absolutely tone deaf. Last night she told supporters, "it's full-speed on to the White House." This is denial in full bloom.
Here’s my question to you: What will Hillary Clinton do now?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Emily from Swansboro, North Carolina writes:
Jack, The most telling thing to me was watching Bill and Chelsea as Hillary gave her "victory" speech last night. It was written all over their faces that she had lost the nomination. She needs to get out of the race, gracefully, now before she loses all credibility.
Cliff writes:
Fight on and on. Keep fighting until she completely embarrasses herself in front of the whole nation and the whole world. She has destroyed the Clinton brand among Democrats.
Deb from Pennsylvania writes:
Jack, Like putting an elderly relative into a home when they don't want to go, but need to, the superdelegates need to do the right and responsible thing by announcing their support for Obama in large numbers. They need to do this now, as the Clintons can't see that it's time to go.
Debbie writes:
I hope she stays in the race because I am one of those Democrats who will not vote for Obama.
Vicki from Pensacola, Florida writes:
See a psychologist.
Kim from Dodge City, Kansas writes:
What Hillary will do now is whine and moan about Michigan and Florida because she can't stand it when things don't go her way. If that doesn't work, she and Bill will twist the superdelegates' arms until she gets her way. The DNC could put an end to this by sticking to their guns. This is the main reason people are wary of the Democratic Party. They can't seem to follow through on anything or cooperate with each other.
Ken from Pinon Hills, California writes:
Go home and learn how to make cookies.
Travis from Los Angeles writes:
You heard her, Jack. It's full speed on to the White House, where she'll be part of history when she meets our first black president.