The Race is Over

Why is the media still treating the democratic nomination as a horse-race between Sen. Obama and Sen. Clinton? Mike Allen and Jim Vandehei point out how unlikely it is that Sen. Clinton can come away with the nomination. Why doesn't the MSM see this as well?

One big fact has largely been lost in the recent coverage of the Democratic presidential race: Hillary Rodham Clinton has virtually no chance of winning.Her own campaign acknowledges there is no way that she will finish ahead in pledged delegates. That means the only way she wins is if Democratic superdelegates are ready to risk a backlash of historic proportions from the party’s most reliable constituency.Unless Clinton is able to at least win the primary popular vote — which also would take nothing less than an electoral miracle — and use that achievement to pressure superdelegates, she has only one scenario for victory. An African-American opponent and his backers would be told that, even though he won the contest with voters, the prize is going to someone else.People who think that scenario is even remotely likely are living on another planet.

Ready to Lead on Day What?

Today, the Washinton Post's article titled "Even in Victory, Clinton Team Battles Itself" presents the most in-depth analysis and coverage of a political campaign so far this season. It is definately worth the read.

If you look at it, you will see all the mistakes, the complete and utter chaos, and arrogance of the Clinton Campaign. How is it that Clinton still claims to be the candidate "ready to lead on day one" when she still isn't ready to lead her campaign on day 300? The mind reels.

Neither candidate has serious executive experience inside or outside of government. This is why running the campaign is so important in this race. It demonstrates how they will lead and what kind of leader they will become if elected. If you want to see an experiment in failed executive leadership, look no further than how the Clinton campaign has been run over this past year.

Woes continued...

I guess Hillary's unpaid bills aren't limited to just the early campaign states of Iowa and New Hampshire.

A New York fine-foods caterer has filed suit against Hillary Clinton's campaign for failing to pay their $2,500 catering bill. The store owner is worried that she may be dropping out of the race soon and he won't be compensated.

Apparently, the campaign told the owner he would be paid via check or credit card within two weeks of the Dec. 15th event. Whoops.

Hillary's Financial Woes

Hilzoy at Obsidian Wings has an excellent post on the current financial situations of the various campaigns, but Hillary’s is definitely worth checking out.

"I was somewhat puzzled by Clinton's statement, though. On one hand, her campaign clearly took in considerably less than it paid out. About nine million dollars less. And that can hardly be good news. Moreover, she has a mass of debt: $7,576,700.48 worth, to be precise (not including the loan she made to herself.) Moreover, while some of it is large sums (over $2 Million owed to Mark Penn, for instance), there are a lot of pretty small unpaid bills to places throughout Iowa and New Hampshire. (Honestly, why not pay the $500.12 they owe to Premier Pizza in Algonquin, Iowa? Or the $615.25 they owe Depot Deli of Shenandoah, Iowa? Your average pizzeria or deli is not made of money, after all."

Isn’t it strange that Hillary presents herself as the candidate for the middle class worker (Heck, her new slogan is that she is with the workers on the night shift) but she still owes small businesses from expenditures well over a month ago?! Nothing like saying you are for the middle class worker when you rack up a hefty bill and fail to pay it in a timely manner. I don’t think those deli and pizza shop owners are wealthy enough to give themselves a $5 Million dollar loan to cover their costs in the meantime.

She campaigns that the Bush economy is a trap door waiting to make businesses and middle class workers fall into bankruptcy. Well, apparently the Clinton campaign has the same effect because I doubt these businesses can write off those large bills at a whim.

This makes their earlier faux pas of failing to pay a waitress a tip look like nothing. Over $1,000 owed from 2007? Wow, and some people want this woman to return to the White House.

However, I shouldn’t be too upset at this revelation because it only means her campaign is having serious money problems. She spent more than she raised in January when she had relative success with New Hampshire, but her stock since then has declined rapidly. I doubt she is having an easy time raising money in February with Obama’s momentum. Look for her to call it quits soon after Ohio if she doesn’t win in a convincing fashion.