There is now no chance for Hillary Clinton to win the Democratic nomination. Even if she wins every remaining primary by a substantial margin, she will still lose the pledged delegate contest, and it is impossible to imagine that a supermajority of the superdelegates would destroy their own party in order to nominate her.
Nevertheless, it is absolutely essential for Hillary Clinton to remain in this presidential race until she loses a major primary. This means that she should not withdraw from the race unless she loses in Pennsylvania, Indiana, or North Carolina.
However, Hillary Clinton does have a choice about how she chooses to run her campaign. Much as Mike Huckabee ran a token but honorable race against John McCain, formally staying in the race but refusing to go negative, Clinton can compete with Barack Obama without trying to undermine the next Democratic nominee for president.
In addition, Hillary Clinton can put her campaign on the line by declaring that she will withdraw if she loses one of these three primaries. This way, no one can suspect any kind of backroom pressure on Clinton to end her campaign. And the talk of having her withdraw will subside as attention is put on these three states.
Ironically, the unity of the Democratic Party requires that Clinton must remain in the race for another month, until she loses and the inevitable becomes apparent to her strongest supporters. Clinton's supporters will feel strong resentment against Obama if they feel that his supporters pressured Clinton to end her campaign early. By contrast, that resentment will disappear if Obama can prove his decisive victory by winning again.
It's not just the feelings of Clinton supporters that we should worry about. The worst thing for Obama right now would be to win by default. A win by forfeit only weakens the winner in the realm of politics. By contrast, Obama's victory over Clinton would establish momentum showing his ability to defeat a powerful political machine.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-k-wilson/why-clinton-must-stay-in_b_95495.htmlInteresting points. I don't think anyone expected her to withdraw until at least April 23rd, so it's not too startling an idea - but it does have merit.