Beyond the Dome

One of the most difficult tasks now, for Democratic leaders and congressional superdelegates, is to avoid looking like they’re trying to push Hillary Rodham Clinton out of the race.

The last thing they want to do, if they want to avoid a messy ending, is make someone of her stature feel that the establishment is ganging up on her. That’s why you hear so many of them choosing their words ever so carefully – even those on Barack Obama’s side.

Senate Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the senior senator from Obama’s state and a loyal ally, doesn’t try to hide his opinion of what Clinton should do. “I hope that Senator Clinton will take an honest look at her chances and make her decision accordingly,” he told me Wednesday morning.

But Durbin also sounded sympathetic to her plight – and the disappointment she’s likely to feel if she has to come back to the Senate after coming so close to the nomination. He tried to offer his best assurances that senators would make that return as easy as possible.

“If she does decide to end her candidacy and return to the Senate, she’ll come back to a very welcoming caucus,” Durbin said. “We’ll be glad to have her back.”

Likewise, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, who is officially neutral, has been bending over backwards to make sure no one thinks he’s secretly taking sides. He says the superdelegates should be able to choose whoever they want, but he also wants them to choose quickly, as soon as the primaries are over.

And he declined several opportunities Wednesday to comment on whether the delegate math gives Clinton any chance to win the nomination.

“Whoever comes back, whether it’s her or him, I’m going to be able to look that person in the face and say I stayed neutral,” Reid said.

And Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio, a Clinton superdelegate who said Tuesday’s results made it much tougher for her to win the nomination, insisted that it’s still her decision whether to continue in the race.

“I think everyone is going to let the senator make her decision, and then take their cues from there,” Ryan said. “Everyone should give her some time to make up her mind.”