Facing a double-digit defeat in New Hampshire, a sudden collapse in national polls and an expected fund-raising drought, Senator Hillary Clinton is preparing for a tough decision: Does she get out of the race? And when?!
“She can’t take multiple double-digit losses in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada,” laments one top campaign insider. “If she gets too badly embarrassed, it will really harm her. She doesn’t want the Clinton brand to be damaged with back-to-back-to-back defeats.”
Meanwhile, Democrat hopeful John Edwards has confided to senior staff that he is staying in the race because Hillary “could soon be out.”
For those who think the Clinton “brand” is immune to defeat, recall what Jimmy Carter did to the Kennedy brand. And no, Teddy’s past history is no more checkered than that of the Clintons.
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Even drunk Teddy has better taste in women and he’s done his own dirty work. This puts Teddy a step or two above the Clintons.
When you are viewed as the “front-runner,” and you are upset by another candidate in an early contest, you have to recover quickly… If not, you lose major momentum and support, and that makes it more likely that you will have to drop out.
This is what almost happened to Bob Dole, in 1996, on the Republican side. [The GOP Establishment weighed in very heavily, following Iowa and New Hampshire, to push him into the nomination.]
Howard Dean was sunk, in a similar way, after he stumbled in the early contests, during the last Democrat presidential nomination race.
Hopefully, this will happen to Hillary as well.