Hillary Vows to Fight On

Although some senior Dems and party officials are calling for Hillary to withdraw from the race in the name of "party unity", she's not buying it:

NEW ALBANY, Ind., March 29 -- In her most definitive comments to date on the subject, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton sought Saturday to put to rest any notion that she will drop out of the presidential race, pledging in an interview to not only compete in all the remaining primaries but also continue until there is a resolution of the disqualified results in Florida and Michigan.

A day after Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean urged the candidates to end the race by July 1, Clinton defied that call by declaring that she will take her campaign all the way to the Aug. 25-28 convention if necessary, potentially setting up the prolonged and divisive contest that party leaders are increasingly anxious to avoid.

"I know there are some people who want to shut this down and I think they are wrong," Clinton said in an interview during a campaign stop here Saturday. "I have no intention of stopping until we finish what we started and until we see what happens in the next 10 contests and until we resolve Florida and Michigan. And if we don't resolve it, we'll resolve it at the convention -- that's what credentials committees are for.

"We cannot go forward until Florida and Michigan are taken care of, otherwise the eventual nominee will not have the legitimacy that I think will haunt us," said the senator from New York. "I can imagine the ads the Republican Party and John McCain will run if we don't figure out how we can count the votes in Michigan and Florida."

Asked if there was a scenario in which she would drop out before the last primaries on June 3, Clinton said no. "I am committed to competing everywhere that there is an election," she said.

At this point in the process I don't think there's any scenario imaginable that has Hillary quitting before the convention. Even if Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen and other senior Dems get their way and have a "superdelegate convention" of sorts in July, Hillary is not bound to abide by their wishes. Even if they come out and declare Obama the winner based on their votes, she will probably stay in until the actual votes are cast in Denver out of a hope that something might happen to the Obama campaign that could swing the superdelegates back to her.

Her statement about staying in until the delegates in Michigan and Florida are resolved is another indication that she won't get out until Denver. It doesn't appear that there will be any solution outside the credentials committee that will be satisfactory to both campaigns.

It's going to be a long, hot summer.