Area Democratic legislators say Clinton should remain in race

May 2, 2008 - Is it time for Sen. Hillary Clinton to drop out of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination?

Many pundits say now is the time for Clinton to graciously bow out, effectively ceding the nomination to her rival, Sen. Barack Obama, who leads in both delegates and the popular vote.

Even state Sen. John Matthews, D-Bowman, who serves as Clinton’s South Carolina campaign co-chair, believes it would be difficult for her to catch Obama.

“Based on the numbers, Obama has the momentum,” Matthews said.

Some believe Clinton’s continued presence and negative attacks are hurting Obama’s chances of defeating Republican nominee Sen. John McCain in November.

The latest Associated Press-Ipsos poll has Obama and McCain in a virtual dead heat.

U.S. Congressman Jim Clyburn, D-South Carolina, doesn’t believe Clinton should pull out of the race but said her campaign should tone down the harsh rhetoric toward Obama.

“The rhetoric is causing a problem,” said Clyburn, one of the more than 200 superdelegates who remain uncommitted to a candidate.

While Clinton holds a massive lead in every poll leading up to today’s West Virginia primary, Obama holds a nearly insurmountable lead in the category that counts, delegates.

Obama leads Clinton 1,866 to 1,697 in total delegates, according to AP tallies. Those numbers include pledged delegates and superdelegates, who are party officials that are not bound by state nominating contests.

Both Obama and Clinton have been aggressively courting superdelegates to reach the magic number of 2,025, the amount of delegates needed to clinch the nomination.

For the first time, Obama has overtaken Clinton in committed superdelegates by a margin of 276 to 271.5, according to the AP.

State Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg, is another uncommitted superdelegate who believes Clinton should stay in the race.

“I don’t think she should drop out. The process should play itself out,” Cobb-Hunter said.

However, she believes it is pretty clear that Obama will be the Democratic nominee unless something unforeseen happens.

Like Clyburn, she feels Clinton’s campaign should tone down its negative attacks on Obama, calling it a play out of the Republican playbook.

“It can only help Republicans,” she said.

Matthews remains dedicated to Clinton, saying she has carried the states that Democrats will need to win in November. He predicted that the epic duel between Obama and Clinton will be over in the next three weeks and Democrats will unite behind whoever is the nominee.

A recent poll may suggest otherwise.

According to an AP-Ipsos poll, 30 percent of Clinton supporters and 21 percent of Obama supporters would defect to McCain if their candidate failed to win the nomination.

“I don’t think there is a chance of that happening,” Clyburn said.

He believes Democratic voters will measure the merits of their nominee against McCain and base their decision on that, regardless of whether their preferred candidate wins the nomination.