The Persistent Candidate

Is Hillary Clinton still Obama's strongest electoral challenge?

Sen. Barack Obama has numerically locked up the Democratic party's presidential nomination, but Hillary Clinton is still campaigning and even secured herself a spot on the nomination ballot in Denver.

After Hillary got her <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-clinton15-2008aug15,0,796850.story" target="new">roll call nomination vote</a> at the Democratic National Convention in Denver––ostensibly to make history for her as the first female to do so––one can't help but suspect that Clinton is Trojan Horse-ing her way into a nomination coup. <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2008/08/14/2008-08-14_barack_obama_blinks_in_hillary_faceoff.html" target="new">Michael Goodwin</a> asserts that Clinton's success in getting onto the nomination list at the convention is equivalent to Russia bulldozing Georgia. "It makes him look weak and ratifies Clinton's sense of entitlement to share party leadership and the convention spotlight. " We have to wonder if the Lincoln Bedroom will be converted into Clinton's pied-a-terre for whenever she feels like acting Presidential if Obama is elected.

Hillary Clinton's inclusion in the roll call vote is being cast as a signal for unity in the Democratic party, desperate to win back embittered Clinton supporters who feel she was the better person for the job. Some people have expressed hopes (or doubts) about the viability of an Obama candidacy, however, and speculated that the Illinois Senator is serving as a stalking horse for Republicans and that Clinton will <a href="http://www.nysun.com/editorials/hillarys-surprise/83609/">swoop in and grab</a> the party's nomination at the convention. <a href="http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/5942243.html" target="new">Leaked memos</a> published in <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200808u/clinton-memos">The Atlantic</a> described the battle between Clinton and Obama as a "circular firing squad."

Perhaps an Obama-Clinton team would be a <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/WN/Vote2008/story?id=4230183" target="new">"dream ticket?"</a>

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