Op-Ed: Will Hillary Clinton run as an independent?

Hillary Clinton's supporters say that she may run as an independent candidate for the White House if she fails to win a nomination.

With Oregon and Kentucky results out, Obama has declared himself the winner in terms of pledged delegates. With more and more super-delegates turning towards Obama, the chances of winning a nomination are waning for Clinton. It’s quite unlikely that delegates from Florida and Michigan will be allowed to sit in the Democratic convention at Denver. Therefore, where can Clinton go henceforward? Some of Clinton's supporters are talking of taking the battle into November. A recent survey shows that if Clinton does not win the nomination, 29 per cent of Democrats say she should run an Independent campaign for the White House. A key Clinton aide has done the math as well. It goes like this:

Keeping most of her current base of women, Hispanics, older voters and blue collar workers, Clinton would have a fair chance to beat both McCain and Obama in Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, New Mexico, New York, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Nevada and New Hampshire. That would give her 165 electoral votes out of 270 to become President. She may concede defeat in remaining 28 states, The fight, according to this scenario, would be for Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Missouri, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin. A combination of factors would give Clinton an edge in these states.

In case none of the candidates fail to reach the magic number of 270, the House of representatives controlled by democrats could choose her over Obama if she has a lead in electoral votes over Obama. Indeed, Senator Joe Liberman of Connecticut has shown a good precedent running as an independent in 2006. Although, statements like this could be an effort to put pressure on Super delegates to win a nomination for her, such a scenario cannot be ruled out.