Like "Rocky," Hillary refuses to quit

     WILKES-BARRE, Pa. -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has been accused of many things, but a resemblance to a fictional heavyweight boxer has never been one of them -- until Tuesday, when she started comparing herself to that Pennsylvania celluloid hero Rocky Balboa.

     She took the stage at a town hall meeting here to the theme from "Rocky," and in Philadelphia, made the connection even more explicit, saying: "Let me tell you something, when it comes to finishing a fight, Rocky and I have a lot in common. I never quit. I never give up."

     Her comments came days after Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, a supporter of Sen. Barack Obama's bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, suggested she should leave the race.

     "Sen. Clinton has every right, but not a very good reason, to remain a candidate for as long as she wants to," he said. "As far as the delegate count and the interests of a Democratic victory in November go, there is not a very good reason for drawing this out."

     Indeed, Clinton faces long odds.

     According to the Slate delegate calculator, the New York senator would need to score 64 percent of the vote in the remaining contests to pull ahead of Obama in the delegate count. To put it mildly, that might be a stretch for a candidate who has exceeded 64 percent in only one contest -- the Arkansas primary -- so far.

     Then again, it's a free country, so Clinton can continue to run until the nomination is decided, or until she runs out of money, if she so chooses.

     But should she?

    -- Jerry Zremski

Comments

[Joe]

We need another Clinton in the White House like we need another Bush in the White House. With all 3 stellar candidates available to us; can we leave this post open?

[Al]

The latest news is that Hillary Clinton removed strategist Mark Penn from her campaign. What took so long? Penn is the one that has made Clinton look untrustworthy compared tp Barack Obama. Another miscalculation by the lady who says who do you want answering the phone at 3 AM.
Penn is a free trader, as is Clinton. She denied it to Ohio voters but the facts are the facts. Penn had to go. Clinton's judgment is rate by North Carolinians as not trustworthy. But Clinton should keep campaigning until the facts show she cannot win. Penn was a major gaffe. Obama is gaining support.

[Carl]

Danno good post'''
Every poll I see shows McCain ahead of both Dems. even with Obama attacking him with constant lies. Obama is losing respect accross the board by taking McCain's 100 year words out of context. Anyone who thnks Obama will win should go to YOU TUBE and type in IS OBAMA WRIGHT, watch that and tell me how he's going to win, wait till a similar commercial is played on national networks this fall. Look at Obamas supporters, Louis Farrakahn, Rev. Wright, Jane Fonda, the new black panther party, the Kennedys The Kerrys, The Carters, Jessie Jackson and the rest of the far left Loons,,good luck. When this country finds out how Obamas tax increases will impact their lives forget it. It dosen't matter who the Dems. run their both flawed candidates with little chance at winning.

[Danno]

Of course Mrs. Clinton should continue her campaign. First of all, she could still win in total popular vote. The wheels could come off the Obama machine at any time. So far, the media has handled him with kid gloves. The Wright issue showed us that he has a lot of buried skeletons, and that he needs a script. As the campaign wears on, his handlers will run out of ways to hide his weaknesses.

Secondly, Mrs. Clinton still has a good chance of winning at the superdelegate level. Jimmy Carter just hinted that he will endorse Obama. That alone should give her confidence a boost.

Thirdly, the most probable outcome is that the third liberal Democrat still in contention, Sen. McCain, will win the general election anyway. With his age, he's a likely one-termer. With that in mind, I'm guessing the Clintons are already laying plans for 2012. All they have to do is carry out the fight to mutual exaustion, smilingly concede, and watch Obama self-destruct this fall. Then the door is open for 2012.

[bobbycat]

Hillary's problem is her high 'negatives'. For whatever reasons, people simply don't like her. It's pretty obvious that she just hasn't connected with most folks on a personal level. People want someone they can relate to and Hillary seems too stuffy, even phoney.

I have never disliked her but she is old school in a time when we need new ideas to salvage our crumbling democracy from big money. Barack can lead that fight and can beat McCain, whose only hope is a Hillary candidacy.

Of course she should step aside.

[Barton Keyes]

The problem with fighting the good fight and not throwing in the towel is that Clinton risks being labeled a spoiler should all the in-fighting result in a McCain victory in November. And with that lable, Clinton would risk her future political carreer.
Thus, she needs to do two contradictory things: continue the fight but do it in such a manner that it does not cripple the eventual Democratic nominee.

[Samuel A. Herbert]

I once read that it is ok to tell a lie,as long as you know the truth. A lie is a lie no matter how large or how small. It appears telling lies in the white house is the norm. G.W.Bush Sr.told the American people a big one "read my lips-no new taxes", his son G.W.Bush Jr. they say the apple don't fall to far from the tree "Iraq-have weapons of mass-destruction", Bill Clinton "I did not have sex with that woman",and now Senator. Hillary Clinton false remark " I came under attack with gun shots". I guess each of them read the same thing I read, the only deferance between them and myself is I don't believe in little white or black lies. To long I had to hear red and blue lies coming out of the white house in my voting life. Senator you not only lost my support, as well as my vote for you as my N.Y.S.Senator. Rocky Balboa is a fictional boxer; The real deal if one is going to compare themselves is to use the greatest of all heavyweights Mr. Mohammad Ali-a born American. A lie is a lie-no matter who you are it is wrong!

[Al]

We already have the best government money can buy. Since this is a party nominating race, Senator Clinton can rely on her party rules for continuing her candidacy. Or does she?
The rules called for disallowing Michigan and Florida delegates because the states advanced their primaries in violation of the party rules. Now she wants to have a re-vote or have the uncontested delegates seated. It seems inconsistent, but there is no candidate with enough delegates to be nominated. So it is clear Hillary Clinton should be the one to decide whether to continue or not. Better to let the ten remaining states/territories have their time to vote. Maybe she can win them all, or maybe not. It's only money. and Barack Obama has plenty, averaging only a little over $100 a donor. That's pretty grass roots.

[Observer]

Jerry, what you wrote here is perfectly fine for a blog entry --- but your writing in the newspaper is including a lot of your opinion rather than objective facts.

For example on this morning's front page you wrote that Hillary's campaign is more like the movie Groundhog Day than it is like Rocky.

I agree with your opinion about that and I might use an even less flattering movie comparison that you did.

But it's your OPINION. If you want to write things like that it sould be in the editorial section in a column like Bob McCarthy's or Doug Turner's.

It was VERY out of place in a "news" article, and that's only one example of what you've been doing more and more of. In the fierce competition for readership, are you and your editors forgeting the difference?

[blocity]

Rocky lost that fight.