Issue link: http://palletcentral.uberflip.com/i/612297
palletcentral.com PalletCentral • November-December 2015 31 herself from those whom I like to call the "three percenters." Any candidate who is not above 5% at this stage in the game will not be the Republican nominee. There is no similar ambiguity as to who will be the Democratic nominee. The Democrats should just go ahead and hand the nomination to Ms. Clinton now. Once Vice President Joe Biden announced he would not be seeking the nomination, this race was effectively over. The Vice President said he simply "ran out of time." It is true that he did wait too long to make a decision, but not because he missed the debate, but rather because Hillary Clinton has been building a campaign infrastructure that Mr. Biden simply could not match. According to third-quarter campaign finance reports, Hillary Clinton raised just under $30 million dollars during the third quarter, and spent almost all of it. In the early stages of her campaign, her campaign manager Robby Mook said they would be "pinching pennies." If you just look at Ms. Clinton's burn rate (the rate she is spending money) it may raise a red flag, however, it is important to note where her money is going. The Clinton campaign has been building a campaign infrastructure that the Vice President simply could not match in a reasonable amount of time. The only chance Senator Sanders had to win the nomination was for Mr. Biden and Ms. Clinton to split the establishment support. Now that Hillary is the only candidate the establishment has to coalesce around, she is the most inevitable nominee in recent memory. Even if Senator Sanders wins in New Hampshire, the only state where he is within the margin of error, I still do not see the Democratic primary lasting past Super Tuesday. It may be over by late February if the Senator can't win in New Hampshire. It appears that the Republican and Democratic par ties have never been fur ther apar t, leading to one of the most hostile political climates in recent memor y.