(Cross-posted at BareNaked Pundits)

I'm a Barack Obama supporter.  I have been since the DraftObama.org days of 2006.  I want him to be the next president.  And that's exactly why I want Hillary Clinton to stay in this race.

Let me be clear -- I realize it's a painful race.  I realize we're losing the chance to go after McCain.  And I'm frankly beside myself that Democrats are raising $90 million a month -- and using it to go after each other. I mean, that's a whole other level of pain.  It's like getting a wisdom tooth pulled... by a proctologist (sorry).

And realistically, if I were Hillary, I would drop out at this point.  She's got virtually no chance of beating Obama in pledged delegates, nor in the popular vote.  And even the long-shot scenario -- superdelegates voting to give her the nomination anyway -- has become a really long shot.  At this point, she'd need 2/3 of superdelegates to overturn the popular will, and that's a tall order.

But here's the thing...

It's 50% social experiment, 50% outright bribe, and maybe... $50 in your pocket if you can come up with the best comment.

As many of you know from my shameless DK text ad, I recently started a new blog, BareNaked Pundits.  Nothing too ambitious, just a fun way to vent at the end of the day.  

So far, the traffic has been nice (and thanks to all who've sent advice and kind words), and I've been having fun.  But I want more comments.  Specifically, I want more fun, creative, provocative comments... It makes  it more fun for me, and more fun for the readers. And frankly, I kind of like the idea of figuring a way to compensate those who contribute creativity via comments.

So here's the deal -- on March 1st, BareNaked Pundits will officially award $50 to the "best" comment made on that site during the month of February.  

Full details on the site

Oh, and I'd welcome any thoughts people have on this.  If it goes well, we might continue and expand this in the months ahead.  And if it's a dumb-ass idea and a failure... well, we won't.   :)