Clintons are a household name not just in the U.S but probably world over . I still rememebr a lot of the people back in my home town in South India knew these three names ever since Clinton became the President. Internationally, Clinton administration and diplomacy were better rated than many of his predecessors that probably made them believe that Clinton created a legacy - let us call it Clinton legacy to understand better what Clintons are trying to preserve as a family.Clintons are also known for their divisive politics within the party and handing out favors to the people sided with them. And that also explains why Hillary entered the presidential race as a formidable candidate of Democratic race and and she did not see the 'change' coming until the Iowa results. Until Iowa Bill Clinton and Chelsea maintained a low profile and he was played a low profile while campaigning here in Des Moines Fair grounds. ( I blogged about their grant rally here that time where i got an opportunity to meet both and i also blogged when i met Obama here in Des Moines in a very low profile rally) Also Chelsea, a couple of times, accompanied her mother and never spoke or took a question.
Things changed just before the Super Tuesday during the North Carolina campaigns where Clintons really sensed the strength of Obama campaign and a potential threat. One of the many thing Clintons bragged was his 'First Black President' title and the early polls in North Carolina showed an unfavorable momentum . Next we saw was Clintons trying to win the blacks votes and when that failed try to win the white votes to stop Obama's momentum before Super Tuesday. May be Bill Clinton damaged the image of the campaign in the process among the black voters and then we saw an overwhelming black turnout for Obama. I saw a different Bill Clinton then - not the one I knew as President but the one lot of his democratic colleagues know as a polarising figure.
Pennsylvania and Ohio best validated their appeasing, blue-color worker divisive strategy to win the majority white votes but probably they overplayed that in Indiana and South Carolina and got punished by the same white folks. As i write this, the whole media is wondering why she is not dropping out of the race and a lot of their colleagues are opining that probably she should consider it as there needs to be a 'miracle' to get her nomination through. Also, her campaigning is underfunded with less contribution coming from the people and she is lending from their personal savings.
May be there are two things I could think of why they are in this race even when it is damaging to the party and Obama, the presumptive nominee.
Protecting Clinton legacy and may be continuing it to next levels could be one. When Chelsea , Bill and Hillary actively campaigns, that's one common binding factor. As someone joked, may be they are thinking that they are entitled to White House :) . If she looses out, that's probably the end of Clinton era so there is a good reason to spend from their own savings and wait for some miracle to happen .Chances here are astronomical but none could rule out that .
Secondly, damaging the party and making Obama less electable ( her campaign in West Virginian and Kentucky is nothing but making a statement that Obama cannot win white blue collar workers) might give her a chance in 2012. If McCain is the nominee, its quite reasonable to believe that in this bad economy , his presidency would take hit from all sides and after 4 years that opens a door to Hillary - A much stronger Hillary could then fulfill the white house dream. Same time, Obama loosing to McCain would pretty much end his bid next time.
So there is a reason for her to be in the race. Probably Clintons don't care what damage that creates for party. But we start hearing more from her own supporters that may be the game is over and she should help uniting the party to secure the Whitehouse. There is no better chance for Democratic party but looks like this is not the best chance for Hillary Clinton
