And there she was Tuesday night in Charleston: "I am the strongest candidate . . . this race isn't over yet."
Actually, it is.
So why is she still at it? Money, clout and a possible "Obama-shell."
Money first.
Having driven her campaign deep into debt (an acknowledged $20 million) and loaning it $11.4 million, Clinton faces a federal deadline to get contributions to pay herself back.
Under the so-called "millionaires' amendment" to the 2002 federal campaign-finance law, a candidate for president cannot raise funds to repay personal loans after the election in which the candidate runs.
Since the "election" in question is the nomination, Clinton has until the August convention to raise funds to repay her loans.
(Had she GIVEN her campaign the money, she could never use contributions to repay herself.)
"It's to discourage self-financing. It was designed to discourage the rich from lending their campaigns money and then raising money for months or years to pay themselves back," says Steve Weissman of the Campaign Finance Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan group in Washington.
So staying in the race and soliciting funds (as she did during her Tuesday-night victory speech) means she can use whatever she raises now to offset her personal loans.
And, yeah, I know Bill could get it all back with a year of speeches or another book, but it still seems like a motivator to me.
Her clout?
Staying in and staying close means she goes to Denver with more say in every aspect of the convention, the campaign and, if Obama is elected, the next administration.
"She wants leverage for future policy, future positions, an open door," says Ray La Raja, assistant professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. "She wants to maximize her leverage."
Couldn't she command influence now?
"Well, maybe they're bargaining right now," says La Raja, "and maybe she's not getting what she wants."
