I said a month ago that Hillary Clinton’s calculus might have been designed specifically to capture a VP spot on a joint ticket, if she could not win the nomination. Here is what I said on April 23rd:

Ultimately, David Gergen, a very prescient political analyst on CNN, may be right. He said it may be her calculation that by running until the end in a negative campaign, the party will be so divided that the VP slot MUST be filled by the losing candidate. The logic makes sense. So what if the party’s divided now. Obama needs Hillary and Hillary needs Obama. Hillary can at least be assured of a VP slot now.

If this is Clinton’s calculus, it is in her interest to stay in the campaign as long as possible. She cannot afford to have healing begin without her because this would obviate the need for her as a VP if Obama wins the nomination. She must carry on, attcking Obama for as long as possible if she wants to secure the VP slot.

Hey, it may not be pretty but it works.

Later, on May 9th as it became clear that Obama was likely to win the nomination, I recanted saying:

Hillary Clinton still has the ability to turn her supporters against an Obama candidacy and split the party. There are those who believe she is holding out for a VP nod. After all, Dick Cheney has shown hat a strong VP can do. And with Bill and she together, the Vice-Presidency might be a strong card for Hillary. I tend to doubt she wants it. After all, she is a woman who likes power and control and the VP slot gives her neither. Moreover, it seals her fate as a Presidential candidate because she won’t be able to run in 2012 and she will be 69 in 2016, as old as the oldest persons ever elected President (William Henry Harrison and Ronald Reagan). This is Hillary’s last shot and she knows it. Hence, the desperation.

I did say on May 19:

going on beyond June 4th would be entirely self-interested. Obama will certainly hit the magic 2025 by June 3rd, so going beyond the primary season could only be seen as a strategy to extract maximum personal gain in terms of a VP slot, to maximize leverage for her agenda and people, or to kneecap Obama in hopes of running in 2012. I look at a post-June 4th strategy as quite sinister and cynical.

But, I had finished with thinking Hillary wanted to be VP. Well, I was right the first time. Al Giordano, at “The Field” wrote:

The Field can now confirm, based on multiple sources, something that both campaigns publicly deny: that Senator Clinton has directly told Senator Obama that she wants to be his vice presidential nominee, and that Senator Obama politely but straightforwardly and irrevocably said “no.” Obama is going to pick his own running mate based on his own criteria and vetting process.
-The Field, The Nightmare Ticket Is Dead, 22 May 2008

“The Field” blames Bill Clinton for this debacle. I blame Hillary Rodhan Clinton This politician is truly incredible. I thought she had some sense of decency and honesty. Maybe I went soft on her while reading her Biography recently. But, it is apparent now that she will really do just about anything to get what she wants.