For American Democrat Hillary Clinton, the quintessential political animal, there has to be some reason to keep hanging on. But who knows why?

Just a few dozen delegates away from securing the Democratic nomination, front runner Barrack Obama cannot be caught by Clinton. Yet she persists, pushing on, campaigning, never saying “quit”.

Statistically, if Clinton can convince the Democratic party to count the votes and delegates in Florida and Michigan, which were disqualified months ago, she could win. If she could also turn back time and convince the Democrats to adopt a "winner take all" system -- like the Republicans use -- she'd also be winning. But these things are not going to happen.

Obama – despite all the talk about unity – has been hurt by the Clinton campaign, particularly by comments about race, patriotism, foreign policy and his lack of experience.

This plays into the hands of Republican John McCain who will not be as easy to beat as many Democrats think. So why does Hillary prolong the race? Could she be Obama’s Vice Presidential candidate? Highly unlikely.

Beyond thinking that McCain will win and Hillary will have a shot next time as the only logical Democrat, the long Clinton race makes little sense.

There are, as a practical consideration, the fundraising issue -- the law permits Clinton's campaign to continue fundraising while she's still in the race. But the daily spending that underlies a campaign is much more than can be brought in by donors.

After last night's convincing win in Kentucky and predictable loss in Oregon, Clinton has officially lost the race for the so-called pledged delegates -- the people chosen in 56 nominating contests. Now, it's up to the Super Delegates and in recent days they've been sliding toward Obama at a far greater rate than Clinton.