
(AP)
By Dontre
Defying calls from some to drop from the race, Sen. Hillary Clinton firmly holds her ground, wins states and vows to go all the way to the convention. Her tenacity is not only rooted in her wins, but in her lead amongst superdelegates, who have the ability to cast decisive votes that may decide the Democratic presidential candidate. In much the same scare-tactic fashion that was once accused of Sen. Clinton and the "3 a.m." phone ad, many in support of Sen. Barack Obama are attempting to scare the Democratic base with claims that the African-American base (most of whom support Sen. Obama), would simply sit this election out, or vote for McCain, to show their unhappiness in the case that their candidate loses. Their premise lies in the charge that the superdelegates would "steal" the election from him if they were to vote in favor of Sen. Hillary Clinton.
Indeed, there is a passionate, divisive current running in the Democratic party that is leading many to threaten that they would vote against their interests by voting for Sen. John McCain, or simply not vote at all, in the case that their respective candidate doesn't win. Long have we known that Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama split the dependable Democratic base, with African Americans voting in his favor, and blue-collar whites voting for her. In fact, because of this deep divide, Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean has said, publicly, that one of the candidates must step down after the final votes of the primary season, so that the party can throw its support behind one candidate to beat McCain. However, Dean's tough talk not only ignores the fact that neither of the candidates will have garnered the votes necessary to win the nomination, but his call would, once again, strip (super)delegates of their right to vote for their candidate of choice, much like in Florida and Michigan.
Furthermore, his calls would not, as he supposes, heal the wounds of the party, rather it would actually add insult to injury.
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