There will be a full-blown Spanish Inquisition-style torture session (complete with comfy chair and Cardinal Biggles) between now and the time the balloting is done in Denver.  There is no way that Clinton can out do Obama on the first ballot.  The only thing she can hope for is to hopelessly deadlock the first ballot and work prodigiously at getting enough support on subsequent ballots to put her over the top.  Because the pledged delegates are only pledged for the first ballot.  Of course, the Democrats might have had enough of Hillary by the second ballot to nominate Obama.  Or, they might have had enough of both of them to go out looking for an alternative.

Clinton is already giving mixed signals.  She said last night that she would work for whomever the nominee might be.  Her campaign staff let it be known that the tentatively agreed-upon magic number of 2025 delegates to nominate is no longer good enough; now they demand Florida and Michigan be included which bumps up the needed number to 2209.  Howard Dean said last week that the Democratic Party had to figure out a way of seating Florida and Michigan delegates that's fair to the candidates and to the people.

Illegitimi non carborundum.

Despite the early chorus of "the witch is dead," Clinton is still very much in the game. Obama needs 180 delegates to win the nomination; Clinton needs 330. The trick is that to win outright without counting on uncommitted superdelegates, Obama needs to average 66% of the votes in the few outstanding primaries. So far, the only state where he's had that kind of landslide is Illinois. Any less support, and the remaining unpledged superdelegates play a huge role.

Anyone want to bet as to which of Clinton or Obama is better at the "back room politics" kind of nomination? 'Cause I know where my money would be.