What does Hillary want?”Hillary Clinton put the question to her supporters here on Tuesday night, moments after her opponent, Barack Obama, clinched the Democratic presidential nomination.

What Hillary did not want to do was to concede defeat. “I want the nearly 18 million Americans who voted for me to be respected, to be heard,” she told her fans, who answered with cheers of “Denver! Denver!” and “Yes she will!”

The campaign was over, and Obama had locked up the nomination after a flood of more than 40 superdelegates announced their support for him throughout the day. But in the Baruch College gymnasium here (the “Bearcat Den”), Clinton spoke as if she were the victor.

She and her husband and daughter took the stage, smiling, clapping and bopping to the beat. She said nothing about losing the nomination, instead thanking South Dakota for giving her a victory in Tuesday’s balloting: “You had the last word in this primary season!” This, she said, confirmed that she had won “more votes than any primary candidate in history.”

Clinton congratulated Obama — not for winning the nomination, but for running an “extraordinary race.” She recognized Obama and his supporters “for all they accomplished.”

It was an extraordinary performance by a woman who had been counted out of the race even when she still had a legitimate chance. Now she had been mathematically eliminated — and she spoke as if she had won.

Though some might think her remarks self-delusional, Clinton wasn’t kidding herself; earlier in the day, Clinton had told lawmakers privately that the race was over and she would consider being Obama’s vice president. Her public defiance reflected a shift in the balance of power that came with Obama’s victory. Now that he had won the race, he would need to woo Clinton if he wanted to prevail in November.

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