Hillary Clinton — The Next Nader?

While it seems unlikely now that Clinton will be the nominee, the outcome of the election in November may still depend on her actions.

Robert Jamieson has a column today where he talks to a Clinton supporter who says she'll vote for McCain if Clinton is not the nominee. If there were only a handful of people who felt that way, this wouldn't be a big deal; but polls show 28% of Clinton supporters say they'll refuse to vote for Obama. That works out to a big number — roughly 11-12% of Democrats. To put this in perspective, Nader only siphoned off 2% of the Democratic vote in 2000. The "Clinton or else" crowd could easily throw the election to McCain if they follow through on their threats.

One hopes that the Clinton faithful will think about what a McCain presidency would really mean before using their votes to demonstrate their bitterness over Clinton's loss. Does getting back at the party really mean more to them than abortion rights, de-escalating the war in Iraq, and staying out of war with Iran? Does it mean more to them than ensuring the Supreme Court will not tip farther to the right? Does it mean more to them than health care reform? Are they really that short-sighted?

While, unlike Nader, Clinton is not threatening to run as a third-party candidate, the actions of her die-hard supporters could have much the same effect in November. If Obama is the nominee — and that now looks all but certain — she needs to endorse him and throw her weight behind his candidacy, in order to reconcile the party. Otherwise we'll be looking at President McCain for the next four years.