THE EMPRESS HAS NO DELEGATES

Wednesday, May 7, 2008 | 2:40 PM

By Sarah Scully
The Rocky and Eight Belles metaphors were more true than the Clinton campaign realized as they became harbingers of her ultimate defeat. The fighting filly has fallen. What she must decide now is how she will exit the ring- on a stretcher or clasping the hand of her opponent. She might even be carried out on the shoulders of her supporters if she withdraws after her likely victory in West Virginia on Tuesday. Then she could really go out like Rocky, the beloved scrapper who lost honorably. Howard Dean astutely pointed out that the unity and strength of the Democratic party rests squarely on the shoulders of the candidate who loses this battle. If I were one of her strategists, I would advise her to suspend her campaign after winning West Virginia with a speech that is both graceful and hopeful that includes a pledge to help deliver Ohio and Pennsylvania for Obama in the fall. Rocky may have been defeated by Apollo but he went on to become a champion later.