Hillary Clinton: Defiant, but Realistic

May 25, 2008— -- Hillary Clinton surprised some in her own camp and in the camp of opponents, Sen. Barack Obama, with an op-ed piece today in the New York Daily News in which she comes to close to admitting that, for now at least, she is losing the numbers battle over delegates.

She wrote: "I am not unaware of the challenges or the odds of my securing the nomination."

Despite that, she vows to keep on campaigning.

Speaking in Puerto Rico today, she said: "If I had listened to those who had been talking over the last several months, we would not be having this campaign in Puerto Rico."

Meanwhile her husband was in South Dakota, one of the last two states with primaries. Bill Clinton came to her defense and again slammed the news media, especially political pundits on television.

The former president said he has "never seen a candidate treated so disrespectfully just for running." He said the pundits downplay her victories in primaries and urge superdelegates to come out for Obama so the race will end.

Hillary Clinton also had some words for Democrats who claim she is dividing the party by remaining in the race.

Not true, she says. Instead, she claims she is actually uniting the party by giving all voters a chance to play a part in the process of choosing the Democratic Party's presidential candidate.

Former President Jimmy Carter, one of the superdelegates to the Democratic National Convention, said he does not think she is accomplishing anything by staying in the race.

"I think a lot of the superdelegates will make a decision ... announced quite rapidly, after the final primary on June 3," Carter said in an interview with Sky News in London. "I have not announced publicly [who he supports] but I think at that point it will be time for her to give it up."

Although, as Carter said, he has not publicly revealed his choice for the nomination, he has dropped broad hints that he favors Barack Obama.