Sen. Hillary Clinton and members of her entourage, including daughter Chelsea and husband Bill, will be seen by many West Virginians during the next few days, as Clinton attempts to woo voters in the Tuesday primary election. Increasingly, however, it is becoming apparent that Clinton is fighting a losing battle. Her campaign is doing nothing more than deepening a rift in her party — and we don’t think the staunch Democrats of the Mountain State like that idea.
Clinton narrowly won the Indiana primary election on Tuesday, but lost in North Carolina. Once delegate hauls from those two states were totaled, analysts noted that Sen. Barack Obama has closed to within striking distance of defeating Clinton for the Democratic Party nomination for president. Obama needs just 180 national convention delegates to win the nomination. Clinton is trailing badly, 152 delegates behind Obama. Continuing her campaign — it no longer can be viewed as a race — is pointless.
Yet Clinton is remaining on the campaign trail, with several stops this week in West Virginia.
Notable in the Clinton campaign itinerary are the areas where visits have occurred or are planned. They include Charleston, the Eastern Panhandle, Mercer County, Philippi, Sutton and Fayetteville. Though the tour may be expanded, it is interesting that the Northern Panhandle has not yet been included.
Why? We suspect that Clinton, her family and supporters do not view our area as a promising source of votes. They would have good reason for that, in view of their failure, during Bill Clinton’s eight years as president, to do much to safeguard the steel industry from foreign competitors.
Some analysts have predicted that Clinton will win the West Virginia Democratic Party primary election next week. Perhaps so — but that would merely postpone the inevitable and, again, create more rifts among the party faithful.
It has been said of West Virginians that we tend to favor underdogs. That is true enough — but the Clinton campaign is not merely that. It is, instead, a lost cause from which the candidate should withdraw.
