A lesson from "Ellen Sourgrapes"

Esteemed political analyst Charlie Cook has some advice for Hillary Clinton: 'If you care about your future, don't pull an Ellen Sauerbrey!'

Noting how close and hard-fought this Democratic presidential primary has been, Cook implores Clinton to learn from other photo-finish losers -- like Saurbrey's losing 1994 gubernatorial campaign.

The phantom culprit in this case was not a flawed caucus or delegate allocation system; they were quite literally phantoms. In other words, dead people in Baltimore rising from the grave to cast their ballots. Yet she hung around well after her claims could be vindicated and ended up looking like a nuisance to the business of government.

Here's how Cook puts it.

In the 1994 Maryland governor's race, Democrat Parris Glendening, the county executive for Prince George's County, edged Ellen Sauerbrey, the state House of Delegates Republican leader, by a scant 5,993 votes out of more than 1.4 million cast.

Some Republicans said they smelled foul play, although a subsequent bipartisan investigation found none. Sauerbrey fought and fought, long after it was clear that she would not prevail, earning her the moniker, "Ellen Sourgrapes."

In the 1998 rematch, though Glendening's popularity was on the wane, Sauerbrey's mishandling of the recount likely prevented her from taking advantage of the situation and she lost, 55-45 percent.

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