This is just silly:

Hillary Clinton will take the Democratic nomination even if she does not win the popular vote, but persuades enough superdelegates to vote for her at the convention, her campaign advisers say. The New York senator, who lost three primaries Tuesday night, now lags slightly behind her rival, Illinois Senator Barack Obama, in the delegate count. She is even further behind in “pledged” delegates, those assigned by virtue of primaries and caucuses. But Clinton will not concede the race to Obama if he wins a greater number of pledged delegates by the end of the primary season, and will count on the 796 elected officials and party bigwigs to put her over the top, if necessary, said Clinton’s communications director, Howard Wolfson.

No shit. And she would be completely within her rights to do so. Would it be sleazy, and a sure way to make sure she depresses Democratic turn-out and probably make her so disliked her legislative agenda would go nowhere, even with a friendly Congress? Quite possibly. But this is the Clintons we are talking about, and winning is everything (and don’t tell me that statement is Clinton hate- the dynamic duo have always considered themselves to be the pragmatic winners of the Democratic Party).

The Clinton campaign is banking on this scenario. This is why we are getting with lubed up with all sorts of stories like this from Clinton surrogate Lanny Davis:

There is certainly a valid concern expressed by those who fear that the 796 “superdelegates” to the August 2008 Democratic National Convention — Democratic elected officials, party officials and VIPs – might make the difference in delivering the nomination to the candidate who wins fewer pledged delegates out of the primaries and caucuses. To some, such a result would seem “undemocratic.” But let’s not rewrite history. When the superdelegates were first created by the Democratic National Committee in 1982, they were intended to be independent, able to vote for any candidate, regardless of the outcome of the primaries or caucuses in their own congressional districts or states.

And this from Clinton pollster Mark Penn:

Again and again, this race has shown that it is voters and delegates who matter, not the pundits or perceived “momentum.” After Iowa, every poll gave Barack Obama a strong lead in New Hampshire, but he ended up losing the state. And after a defeat in South Carolina, Hillary Clinton went on to win by large margins in California, New York, Florida, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Arizona, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Arkansas. As history shows, the Democratic nomination goes to the candidate who wins the most delegates – not the candidate who wins the most states. In 1992, Bill Clinton lost a string of primaries before clinching the nomination.

And this nonsense from Clinton surrogate Harold Ickes:

The person I spoke to paraphrases Ickes, who is spearheading Hillary’s super-delegate hunt, this way: “We’re no longer using the phrase super delegates. It creates a wrong impression. They’re called automatic delegates. Because that’s what they are.” The worry appears to be that the phrase “super-delegates” implies that “they have super-powers or super influence when they don’t,” the source says, describing Ickes’ thinking. In other words, the phrase suggests that they have greater than average clout and that they have the power to overrule the democratic process, giving it the taint of back-room power politics. The new term “automatic delegates” appears to be ostensibly a reference to the fact that these folks are super-delegates automatically, by virtue of their office or position.

It is right there in front of you- they intend to win this nomination even if they lose the popular vote. They are just setting the groundwork for it right now, and anyone who is even remotely surprised that the Clinton camp would literally crawl over glass to win needs to have their head examined.

Which, of course, is why it is so important that you make sure you go out and vote for Obama. Try to get him to win every state from here on out, and make the margins smaller when he loses. Make the super-delegates think about going against the popular will. A clean, undeniable win is the only thing that will stop her, as we KNOW they have no scruples about taking this nomination any way they can.

*** Update ***

And this does not even delve into the bullshit they are going to try to pull with Florida and Michigan.

*** Update #2 ***

An almost identical post from the Poliblogger.

*** Update #3 ***

From the other side of this issue, Tom Watson.