Face Off returns! Two of our writers will be posting separate pieces on a hot-button topic. You can check out both and then vote for the one that speaks to you and aligns with your views.

Today the topic is Hillary: Should she drop out?

Check out today's posts:


Denise Williams writes:

[A] reason to stay is the situation with the rules-breaking Florida and Michigan. Clinton's advocacy (albeit selfish) for these two "disenfranchised" states keeps the heat on to find an equitable solution to seating their delegates in August. Without her continued pressure on Obama and the DNC, voters in these two states may be put off enough to stay home in November or go to McCain.

Continue reading Hillary Should Stay In...

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David Knowles writes:

Last night in West Virginia, Hillary Clinton came away with an impressive 41-point win over Barack Obama. She shaved his popular vote lead by roughly 140,000 votes, and used her surrogates to continue hammer away on the point that Obama can't win with poor, undereducated white voters. The spin from Camp Clinton is that all of this matters in her race race for the nomination with Obama. But the math -- Oh, the dreaded math! -- speaks otherwise.

Continue reading Hillary Should Drop Out...

When I did a story about John McCain's release of his tax returns a few weeks ago, I somehow missed out on the glaring fact that Republican Presidential hopeful John McCain has a prenuptial agreement with second wife Cindy McCain. Well, at least she let him keep his maiden name.

From Tfitz on DailyKos:

It seems that when his totally hot, totally rich, second wife Cindy said yes to his 'big question', she also let him know that his job wasn't finished until the paperwork was done. This tough bride, whose financials are none of your damn business thank you very much, made Big John sign a prenuptial agreement. How's that again? A possible POTUS with a pre-nup?

The article goes on to talk about the implications of the pre-nup:

If marriage is sanctioned by God and valid until death does part you cute kids, why go into it with a financial escape clause; a 'golden parachute' of love? Well, the reasons for doing so are obvious and can be fully expressed in two points. Point A: 'This thing may not last and I'll be damned if I'm going to be broken hearted and broke' and Point B: 'I don't really trust this son of a bitch'. In other words, it is all about trust. In other, other words; Cindy McCain doesn't.

When I saw this story, aside from the usual guy-talk ribbing, I couldn't really see much of a point to it. I've never cared much for stories of an embarrassing, personal nature. I almost felt a little bad for McCain. But, then, while researching yesterday's story, I realized that McCain had it coming.

The Obama campaign doesn't talk about it much, but will admit when pressed that they started this process knowing that there was a small, but not insignificant, segment of the population that just will not vote for an African-American.

Running just below the surface in the campaign and in the media, is the undercurrent of racism still to be found in pockets around the country - rural, urban and suburban. While Senator Obama's message is inclusive and pan-racial, the workers on the ground have felt the sting that the campaign itself does not wish to highlight and the media has mostly ignored.

The Washington Post today has some harsh stories of field workers, phone bankers and surrogates having doors slammed in their faces, being called the most derogatory of racial terms and physically threatened.

Victoria Switzer, a retired social studies teacher, was on phone-bank duty one night during the Pennsylvania primary campaign. One night was all she could take: "It wasn't pretty." She made 60 calls to prospective voters in Susquehanna County, her home county, which is 98 percent white. The responses were dispiriting. One caller, Switzer remembers, said he couldn't possibly vote for Obama and concluded: "Hang that darky from a tree!"

Documentary filmmaker Rory Kennedy, the daughter of the late Robert F. Kennedy, said she, too, came across "a lot of racism" when campaigning for Obama in Pennsylvania. One Pittsburgh union organizer told her he would not vote for Obama because he is black, and a white voter, she said, offered this frank reason for not backing Obama: "White people look out for white people, and black people look out for black people."

First Read's Domenico Montanaro makes a good point about why things aren't looking good for Hillary Clinton even though she'll win big in West Virginia today. The problem? Numbers:

Obama has now picked up 25 (with Romer would be 26) [superdelegates] this past week. That's more delegates than Clinton will net out of the West Virginia's 28 delegates at stake. And if Obama rolls out four more, he'd have gained more superdelegates in the past week than there are delegates at stake in West Virginia.

First Read is apparently sorely in need of a copy-editor, but the inference is a valid one. With the superdelegates now going over to Obama in droves, the remaining delegates that Clinton will net from West Virginia and Kentucky will be all but negated. Even James Carville seems to know the end is nigh.

If Hillary is imploding, nobody told the good folks in West (By God!) Virginia and Kentucky. She's still showing huge margins of support.

RealClearPolitics has the roundup:

Suffolk is out with a new poll in West Virginia (May 10-11) showing Clinton with a 36-point lead:

Clinton 60
Obama 24
Undecided 8

And Research 2000 has new numbers in Kentucky (May 7-9), where Clinton also enjoys a substantial 27-point lead over Obama:

Clinton 58
Obama 31
Undecided 11

Even with results like this, we probably won't see another shift in the race back to Hillary. These results are "baked in," they are expected, and in fact anything less than a 20 point margin may be looked on as a Hillary loss. Apart from some handwringing over Obama's lack of appeal to Appalachian voters, the Democrats will remind themselves that most Americans aren't from the hills and hollers, and that will be that.

And Kentucky and West Virginia will go red in the fall. The Democrats will just have to win without them, if they can.

Not long after MoveOn.org decided to endorse Barack Obama, the group announced a video ad contest: "Obama in 30 Seconds'.

5.5 million votes were cast for the 1,100 submissions and 15 finalists were selected. An eclectic group of 24 judges that included Ben Affleck, Jesse Jackson, Oliver Stone and Moby, chose the winner, "Obamacan" by David Gaw and Lance Mungia of Monrovia, CA.

MoveOn's donors have committed $200,000 to run this ad in selected markets.

London's Telegraph caught it and HuffPost brings it to our shores... Hillary Clinton referring to the next president as a "he." Oops.

Speaking to voters in the Appalachian state, she said: "All the kitchen table issues that everybody talks to me about are ones that the next president can actually do something about, if he actually cares about it." Realising her faux pas, she added: "More likely if she cares about it!"

Sometimes a verbal slip up is just a verbal slip up. I'm not going to get all Freudian on Hillary and suggest that in her mind the race is already over. Though her language in general over the past week has suggested that she's slowly facing up the realities of her impending loss:

Though Mrs Clinton continues to make her case as the best next president of the US, she has noticeably softened her tone on Mr. Obama in the past few days, after weeks of direct attacks on his readiness for the White House. She also much less regularly peppers her speeches with the phrase "When I am president..." - another sign that her inner conviction is fading.

For his part, it's clear that Barack Obama has moved on. It appears he's done with the primary states, realizing that this year the next president will indeed be a man. Obama headed for Missouri, sure to be up for grabs in November, where he's begun a full scale attack on John McCain's economic proposals.

The new ad airing in West Virginia by Barack Obama is a :30 second spot titled "Service." It makes sure to let the Mountain state voters know about his "Christian faith."

Although I reported last week, with much disappointment, that John Edwards does not intend to endorse a candidate before the Democratic National Convention, he seems to be finding other ways to get his point across. First, there was this possible "slip", and then, this weekend, he had some words of caution for Hillary Clinton. Via CNN's Political Ticker:

Appearing on CBS' Face the Nation, Edwards said Clinton has to be "has to be really careful that she's not damaging our prospects," with continuing to take jabs at Obama.

"She doesn't need my advice, she knows this full well," Edwards said. "If she makes the case for herself, which she's completely entitled to do, she has to be really careful that she's not damaging our prospects, the Democratic Party, and our cause, for the fall."

Now, I do still believe that Edwards would do everyone a favor by weighing in, but this may just do the trick. It sounded pretty friendly for a shot across the bow, but it was also unmistakable. The warnings aren't going to get any nicer.

I renew my recommendation that Hillary drop out now and accept the VP nod, while it can still look like it was her idea. The longer she holds on now, the harder the push will be.