Clinton WILL exit by May 20th

People have been saying she is in this until June 3rd or June 15th and that she is in the drivers seat.  As usual the lazy media has repeat the first opinion tossed out there without even thinking this thing through logically.  Everyone believes she can exit when ever she want and that it is a luxery.  WRONG, Hillary has a very small window of opportunity that is closing fast.  Follow the logic after the jump becasue it is Obama not Clinton who is driving the bus.

The May 20th day for victory in the pledge delegate lead was beautifully played by Obama.  With the Pelosi Nine and a sure slide of supers to follow Hillary will lose any upper hand in negotiating she may have.

Logic...... The race is over.  Supers are pledging and as Axlerod said today,

"You're going to see people (superdelegates) making decisions at a rapid pace from this point on," he said. "We've been announcing several each day for the last few days. We're going to continue to unfurl these endorsements on a regular basis."

There is very little room for Hillary to maneuver.  If she chose to stay beyond May 20th, she will lose all power she had in negotiating an exit.  What will she be able to gain?  What will Obama feel he has to do?  Nothing.  Obama will be content to let things play out as more Supers are added to his camp and he’s taken over the 2025 benchmark.  She will not have support to keep this going till August, wont’ have support to keep it going beyond the last primary.  What does she get if she loses outright?  Obama will not be obligated to consider VP, consider debt relief, consider healthcare sponsorship, consider a spot at the convention, consider anything. She goes home without a consolation prized.  

May 20th is more symbolic than people realized.  It is a deadline set by the Obama camp for Clinton's exit.  If she wants any bargaining power she has to pull the trigger before May 20th.  It’s simple logic.  She wants something, we all know that as she was quoted on TPM,

"There's a lot of communication between both of the campaigns all the time. I don't know how specific it is, but we have very open lines of communication...I know that both Senator Obama and I are committed, and the campaigns are as well, to making sure that when this is resolved" we will do everything we can to "unify the party."

She only has 8 more days to get a deal done.  Hillary will be gone by May 20th, possibly as soon as the end of the week.  I’d bet money on it.  The Clinton's won't walk away with nothing.  They are smarter than that, but time is not on their side.