Dead Candidate walking

On a night when Hillary Clinton needed in her words a “game changing event” she failed to see it materialize. Barack Obama claimed the North Carolina primary with a convincing 14% win, and narrowly lost the Indiana primary by 2%. The more important fact of the May 6th primaries was that Clinton’s closing of the pledged delegate lead of Obama by 12 with her win in Pennsylvania was completely wiped out by Obama’s 16 pledged delegate difference in North Carolina.

At a time when Obama should have been at his weakest in this long Democratic party nomination race. With Obama on the defensive after the Reverend Wright debacle, the “Bittergate” stumble, Hillary Clinton needed to win both Indiana and North Carolina primaries to significantly close on Obama and continue her case before those undeclared super delegates, and it did not materialize.

What becomes an even more increasing problem for Clinton going forward is the issue of money. After PA, her campaign saw a dramatic $10 million dollars in donations over night immediately following her win there. I seriously doubt there will be that kind of “money bounce” after the results of yesterday. Her campaign is increasingly in financial straights, and is developing an ever increasing debt as she attempts to stay in the race with Obama.

I doubt that Clinton will quit the race until the DNC meets to decide the fate of Michigan and Florida delegates on May 31st. But even adding those contest results into the mix only decreases Obama’s lead, not pass him. I suspect that the trickle of super delegates lining up for support of the candidates to begin to turn into a faster flowing river, and I don’t think that will bode well for Clinton.

There is a dead candidate walking and her name is Hillary Clinton, she just can’t or won’t admit it.