For those of you who may have missed it. Hillary just threw down the gauntlet in her Kentucky victory speech. She clearly and unambiguously stated that this battle is going to the convention.
From Politico.com (Thanks to Terre):
Still, Clinton made it clear during her victory speech in Louisville, Ky., that she intended to stay in the race through the last primaries on June 3 and "until we have a nominee, whoever she may be."
Later, she told several hundred supporters in Maysville, Ky., "None of us is gong to have the number of delegates we’re going to need to get to the nomination, although I understand my opponent and his supporters are going to claim that."
Again, she vowed to push on "until we have a nominee." But she declared, "We’re not going to have one today, and we’re not going to have one tomorrow, and we’re not going to have one the next day."
For those of you arguing that I "misheard." I suggest that you listen to the speech in its entirety.
1-She specifically mentions that the party will not have a nominee until it reaches her fudged (2,209) number.
2-She specifically mentions that there will not be a nominee until Florida and Michigan are seated.
3-Thus, she is not going to accept Obama as the nominee when he reaches 2,025 delegates.
This was not empty rhetoric, her tone was incredibly defiant. I do believe that she fully intends to contest this primary on the convention floor based on her illogical arguments. Most important, she also insinuated, once again, that Obama could not win in November.
It seems clear to me at this point, that she is going to try to divide the Democratic party in an attempt to ensure that McCain wins and she can run again in 2012. In any event, what we witnessed tonight was a sincerely defiant Hillary announcing her endgame strategy. She told us tonight that she is not going to go quietly into history.