Will Hillary have leverage if she is behind?

[quinnox]

Lets say Obama and Hillary both don't have enough delegates to win the nomination, but Obama is head by at least 100 delegates. If Hillary doesn't quit can she get some kind of position or promise from Obama in return for her letting him win?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

1. I doubt it.

She'll drop out on the 5th and won't have any leverage at all, and if she drags it out to the convention she'll just generate ill will.

[JackORoses]

2. she gets nothing but a swift kick in the ass.

If she had shown any semblance of grace she might have continued her political career,
now she has scorched the earth and burnt her own house down in the process.

[SteppingRazor]

3. Such as?

I don't know that it's very likely -- the voting at modern conventions makes such smoke-filled-backroom-style wheeling and dealing something of an anachronism -- but assuming that it could happen, what sort of positions would you want Hillary to force Obama to adopt? Their policy positions are remarkably similar, considering all the bluster here at DU.

[quinnox]

4. Well lets say Hillary says

Obama I will let you win but you have to give me something like supreme court nomination or an important position in the cabinet or something.

It seems to me that she has won a lot of delegates and voters and that would mean she gets something good at the end of this process.

[SteppingRazor]

6. I'd love to see a Hillary SCOTUS nod.

Oh, GOD would that tweak some conservative noses!

On the other hand, I think when it comes to SCOTUS nominations, we need to start playing ball the way the Republicans do. These are lifetime appointments, and the GOP's last couple nominees were ages 55 (Alito) and 50 (Roberts) when they were nominated. We better start putting relatively young jurists on the Court as well, or within a couple decades, they'll all be conservative, and this country will be ... well, I think you can imagine.

Anyway, getting back to the point at hand, I think the best thing she can do is ask Obama to adopt some policies (whichever she wants to push) as part of his platform in return for her outspoken support. Anything more than that is probably impossible -- there's no silver medal in politics.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

8. Really?

After the handling of this campaign I don't find her judgement particularly encouraging.

[SteppingRazor]

13. Well, I do find her political judgment somewhat suspect, but...

I think her ability to handle a political campaign and her ability with regard to jurisprudence are two different things.

I do, however, have to agree with the poster below that such a nomination would be extremely difficult to pull off (though, were I to disagree with my former statement, I would have done so without accusing me of smoking crack. But, hey, whatever.)

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

16. Meh.

I think her opinion on constitutional law leaves much to be desired, given the flag burning bill she co-authored.

[JVS]

11. If anyone doesn't think that she'd be "Borked", it's time to put the crackpipe down.

It would never happen. At most she'd get nominated and then sent packing

[SteppingRazor]

12. Wow. I posit an imaginary Hillary scenario ... then say I'd rather do otherwise...

and you say I'm smoking crack.

No wonder Hillary supporters are so pissed at us.

[JVS]

14. Sorry. I meant "if one thinks"...

[SteppingRazor]

15. No worries.

While I've never smoked crack, I can't be said to have lead a particularly clean existence. :evilgrin:

And besides, if altered states adversely affect political commentary, explain that dude in my avatar box. :P

[karynnj]

17. The question is whether she would beat a filibuster if she was

She doesn't have the traditional backgound for supreme court justice. I believe she was mostly a corporate lawyer, though she did some stuff for kids. I do know that for years Mario Cuomo was mentioned so I doubt this precludes it.

The main question would be if all Democrats would vote yes. Unless we also did incredibly well in the elections, we might need a couple Republicans.

My guess is that given the numbers now - the best she could get would be prime time speeches for herself and Bill on one day of the convention. (No small thing if they follow the rules of 2004 - where there were only 3 one hour slots. (Kerry gave the Clintons one, but after this season - splitting one between say Kerry, Gore, and Kennedy might be better fro Obama.)

[anigbrowl]

5. She can ask, but...

I don't think it's likely that Brack Obama is going to fall short of the needed total. Superdelegates are allowed to vote as they see fit (including changing their vote) so the scenario you suggest is highly unlikely.

[cali]

7. "letting him win?" LOL!. It's all but over. She'll drop out if she loses

TX and it looks like he'll win big there. And he won't promise her anything.

[tyne]

10. She doesn't have money

to go any further.

I don't think she's the type to Huckabee around the country living in buses and eating at McDonalds.

[Debi]

9. She can try - but the delegates at every level have the right to change their position

So -100 delegates on the opening day of the convention could easily become -1,000 by the closing day of the convention.

[ericgtr]

18. This is a fair question

and it could come up. It's not uncommon for these type of deals to be struck up behind closed doors, I think if something like this does happen that we won't hear about it.