Clinton will follow through with primaries, supporters say

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“She’s looking at her options, including, according to people I talk to who are close to her, perhaps ways in which she can use her leverage to get the vice presidential slot because (Obama) is not inclined to want her on the ticket.”

Bad blood between the two camps now makes many scoff at the “dream ticket.” The Clintons dislike Obama and believe he’s unqualified, he said.

But the agenda now, Bernstein believes, is to maximize her leverage where she can and hope “there’s a chance there’s some information out there they might stumble across that might keep them in the game.”

Clinton, he added, “likes this image of herself as a fighter, and it has served her well.”

Walking away from a race, especially one as prolonged and intense as this one, is harder than it might appear. Throw in her multimillion-dollar personal investment in her own campaign and the commitments of so many campaign workers and volunteers.

“It’s very difficult,” said Gary Hart, whose marathon run against front-runner Walter Mondale in the 1984 Democratic nomination race was until now the most prolonged in modern party history.

“It’s not just the admission of failure or the lack of success. It’s that you feel that you’ve let a lot of people down or not quite achieved what you wanted to on their behalf.”

In Clinton’s case, it’s a base of millions of women, blue-collar types, older voters, whose shift to Obama still needs to be seen.

Hart, who backed Obama early, said he entered the race never thinking he could win.

But Clinton was the early and prohibitive front-runner. And, at 60, is it her only shot?

Kim Wells, an aide to Sen. Bob Dole in his 1988 race, said facing reality that losing is inevitable is the first step.

“Most of these candidates, and Hillary Clinton is certainly one, are so determined and willing to work so hard and want it so bad that it’s hard to give it up,” he said.

Wells said Clinton deserves credit because “she’s been fighting tooth and nail, even though it’s probably been over for a month or two.”

As Hart said, “Not everyone can be president.”

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Hillary Clinton has no ‘reverse gear’ when it comes to political drive The Star’s Dave Helling contributed to this report. To reach Steve Kraske, call 816-234-4312 or send e-mail to skraske@kcstar.