Clinton, portrait of a lady on the political ropes

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Hillary Clinton is showing her colors as a scrappy fighter unwilling to throw in the towel even as numbers show a win is unrealistic after a marathon Democratic presidential nomination race.

Deep into what is the party's longest-ever nomination campaign, the New York senator refuses to exit gracefully, despite the need for a near-miracle for her to snatch the nomination from rival Barack Obama, who leads her by every key metric including pledged delegates and the popular vote.

Last year she was seen as the invincible candidate who many observers thought would merely brush off the upstart Illinois Senator Obama before facing the Republican nominee, now established as John McCain, in November's general election.

Today she is fighting for her political survival, and she is putting on her game face campaigning ahead of the six remaining contests.

"One thing you know about me, I am no shrinking violet, and if I tell you I will fight for you, that is exactly what I intend to do," she told cheering supporters Friday in Kentucky, which holds its Democratic primary May 20.

"Now I may stumble and get knocked down, but I will always get right back up and I will never quit until this job is done."

But Clinton is now increasingly seen as employing unsavory last-gasp tactics, including a controversial focus on race -- highlighted by her remarks in USA Today newspaper Thursday about white voters not supporting Obama -- that has increased pressure on her to bow out.

Clinton referenced polls that she said "found how Senator Obama's support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states (Indiana and North Carolina) who had not completed college were supporting me."

The New York Times, which initially endorsed Clinton, said in an editorial Friday that "Clinton will be making a terrible mistake -- for herself, her party and for the nation -- if she continues to press her candidacy through negative campaigning with disturbing racial undertones."

And she has shifted to the center, following McCain in calling for a gas tax holiday this summer that has been widely criticized by economists.

"It heightened her identification with her white working-class constituency," Charles Krauthammer wrote in the Washington Post. "It was an overreach."

Such tactics and her refusal to give up have led to blistering commentary by some editorialists.

"Is Hillary Clinton's hubris so great that she is willing to harm the Democratic Party's chances in November just to keep herself in the race? Apparently so," wrote Kansas City Star columnist Mary Sanchez.

Clinton's legendary tenacity was on display early in the primaries, when after a shock opening loss to Obama she bounced back to carry New Hampshire.

Obama then won 11 contests in a row in February and early March, but Clinton pulled herself out of the ditch again to win key states Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Obama too has proved resilient, and on Tuesday won convincingly in North Carolina and held Clinton to a two-point win in Indiana despite a month of scandals including controversial comments by his former pastor Jeremiah Wright.

Independent monitor RealClearPolitics.com puts the total delegate count at 1,865 to 1,697 in favor of Obama, who on Saturday for the first time overtook Clinton in the fight for superdelegates and leads 274 to 271.

In early February, she had 90 more superdelegates -- the all-important group of 795 party elite who cast votes for whomever they choose -- in her corner than Obama. But at least 15 more have recently swung over to his side, including seven in 24 hours.

During a campaign stop in Oregon Friday Obama said he envisioned wrapping up the nomination by May 20, when Oregon and Kentucky vote.

"We are going to bring this election to a close right here in Oregon if all of you feel that same spirit" of change, Obama said.

Yet Clinton, still smiling and showing the same campaign verve, remained determined to make history as the first woman US president, while Obama aims to become the first African American to win the White House.

"She is still hoping for a miracle," author and commentator Carl Bernstein said on CNN Saturday.



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