After Pennsylvania: What's Next for Hillary Clinton?

Hillary Clinton will win the Democratic primary in Pennsylvania today. Her margin of victory should be about 10%, which is considerably less than the 20%+ edge she held in the Keystone state six weeks.

But Sen. Clinton's coveted victory will be much too little, much too late for her to catch Barack Obama in all markers of significance: committed delegates, popular votes, states won. And due to mass movement of superdelegates to Sen. Obama since Super Tuesday, February 5th, Clinton now holds only 24 more than does Obama, drastically down from a 200+ lead four months ago.

Harsh reality for the Clinton camp is that barring travesty or tragedy, Obama will win the Democratic party's 2008 presidential nomination.

The question of the moment is: what's next for Hillary Clinton after Pennsylvania, which is likely the last grand moment of her soap opera-ish 2008 campaign?

Will she become the Mike Huckabee of the Democratic party, sticking around embarrassingly long after her time has passed?

Will she soldier on, angrily embracing her whiskey-swilling, gun-toting, inner Goldwater-Girl while continuing to denigrate the party's activist base?

Or will she take seriously the sky-high writing on the Democratic wall, and gracefully exit while she has any shred left of a national future within the party?

One foreboding factor is that with eight primaries remaining, the Clinton campaign has run out of funds. And Obama has millions left for primary campaigns.

(See quick-reading summaries of the most current fundraising statistics for Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton .)

Reports the Wall Street Journal in Clinton Campaign in Red as Pennsylvania Contest looms :

"Financial reports released to the Federal Election Commission Monday show that Hillary Clinton raised around $20 million in March and had roughly $8 million available at the beginning of April for use during the primary. But the campaign also reported debts of $10.3 million, which makes it in the red leading into contests in Indiana and North Carolina....

"The Clinton campaign's financial state stands in sharp contrast to rival Barack Obama's fund-raising. Sen. Obama raised $41 million in March and had $42 million on hand to spend in April. Overall, Sen. Obama had $51 million on hand at the end of March."

Then there's the matter of the eight remaining primaries, which split about evenly between the two candidates:

• North Carolina on May 6 - Obama projected to win by up to a 25% margin. 134 delegates at stake.
• Indiana on May 6 - Too close to call, with Clinton presently leading by only a couple points. 84 delegates at stake.
• West Virginia on May 13 - 39 delegates.
• Oregon on May 20 - Considered prime Obama territory. 65 delegates.
• Kentucky on May 20 - Clinton should score a victory in Kentucky. 60 delegates.
• Puerto Rico on June 1 - Polls indicate a 10-point Clinton lead. 63 delegates.
• South Dakota on June 3 - Both Democratic senators endorse Obama. 23 delegates.
• Montana on June 3 - 24 delegates.

Given the present trajectory of the Democratic drive for the nomination, Hillary Clinton's exit from the race is a question of "when," not "if."

The timing of Clinton's exit depends entirely on how much damage Bill and Hillary aim to wreak on both Barack Obama and the Democratic party in 2008.

Given the lack of moral clarity of the Clinton's 2008 campaign, and given its ruthless ambition to steamroll all who stand between them and the White House... Hillary and Bill Clinton may lust to extract yet another pound of electability flesh from the party that dares reject them.

I still hope for better from Hillary Clinton.

(Both photos taken on April 21, 2008: First, Joe Raedle/Getty Images. Second, Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)

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