Long fight ahead for Clinton

Unless Obama breaks through her firewall in Ohio and Texas, that is

According to ABC, Clinton will take the campaign all the way to the convention.

“My prediction is there will be no fight,” said Clinton campaign advisor Harold Ickes on a conference call with reporters Saturday. “All of this is going to be settled out before we hit the floor.”

“We don’t think our party or our candidate will be served by a bitter floor fight,” he added later.

But Ickes also made it very clear that Clinton would not give up without a fight -- no matter what happens in the upcoming primary battles with Sen. Barack Obama.

Unless she wins by two-thirds margins in all of the remaining primaries, Clinton can't catch up to Obama in delegates and can only win through superdelegates. Or by insisting that the docked delgates of Florida and Michigan are counted.

Al Gore could become the peacemaker:

Party leaders described Mr. Gore as a potentially crucial mediator because the putative head of the party — and the man who chose him as his vice president — Bill Clinton, is hardly a neutral observer when it comes to his wife’s candidacy.

“Because President Clinton is very involved on one side, there is an opening for him to be a more neutral force and an honest broker,” said a close associate of Mr. Gore’s, who like most of the associates spoke only on the condition of anonymity. “He’s probably the only unaligned person with the kind of stature to step in to that role and have a real impact on this.”

Photo: Presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., looks out at her audience as she speaks at the Democratic Party of Wisconsin dinner, Saturday, Feb. 16, 2008, in Milwaukee. The Wisconsin primary is on Tuesday Feb. 19, 2008. (AP Photo/Darren Hauck)