Gio Takahashi
06-05-2008, 09:30
Clinton to suspend campaign Saturday The former first lady will also reportedly endorse rival Barack Obama
MSNBC News Services
updated 12:24 a.m. ET, Thurs., June. 5, 2008
WASHINGTON - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16123860/) will suspend her campaign and endorse Sen. Barack Obama on Saturday, NBC News confirmed, bringing an end to a ground-breaking presidential race.
Hours after Barack Obama (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16438329/) sealed the nomination on Tuesday, Democrats coalesced around his candidacy, sending a strong signal to Clinton that it was time to bow out. The former first lady told House Democrats during a private conference call Wednesday that she will express support for Obama's candidacy and congratulate him for gathering the necessary delegates to be the party's nominee.
"Senator Clinton will be hosting an event in Washington, D.C., to thank her supporters and express her support for Senator Obama and party unity. This event will be held on Saturday to accommodate more of Senator Clinton's supporters who want to attend," said her communications director, Howard Wolfson.
Aides told NBC News that there would be a private staff event Friday in Washington, followed by the public event on Saturday. They said that she would not waive her right to have her name placed in nomination and that she had not negotiated for anything from Obama, such as debt relief for her campaign.
She was also leaving her options open to retain her delegates and promote issues important to her, including a signature call for universal health care.
One adviser told the New York Times that Clinton would concede defeat, congratulate Obama and proclaim him the party?s nominee, while pledging to do what was needed to assure his victory.
Also in the speech, Clinton will urge once-warring Democrats to focus on the general election and defeating Republican presidential candidate John McCain (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16438320/).
Options for ending it
She will be bringing to a close an epic five-month nominating battle pitting the first serious female candidate against the most viable black contender ever.
A senior Clinton adviser said the candidate and her lieutenants had discussed various ways a presidential candidacy can end, including suspending the campaign to retain control of her convention delegates and sustain her visibility in an effort to promote her signature issue of health care. This adviser spoke on condition of anonymity because officials were not authorized to discuss the conference call Clinton held with her congressional supporters.
The other options include freeing her delegates to back Obama and ending her candidacy unconditionally. The official stressed that neither Clinton nor her inner circle had decided specifically what course to take other than to recognize that the active state of her bid to become the nation's first female president had ended.
On the telephone call with impatient congressional supporters, Clinton was urged to draw a close to the contentious campaign, or at least express support for Obama. Her decision to acquiesce caught many in the campaign by surprise and left the campaign scrambling to finalize the logistics and specifics behind her campaign departure.
?We pledged to support her to the end,? Rep. Charles Rangel, a New York Democrat who has been a patron of Clinton's told The New York Times. ?Our problem is not being able to determine when the hell the end is.?
Clinton?s speech Tuesday, in which she praised Obama but gave no clear signal that she would exit the race or endorse the presumptive nominee anytime soon, stirred concern among some of her top supporters.
?By the time she got on that podium ... she knew it was over and that she had lost,? Hillary Rosen, one of Clinton?s most ardent female supporters, wrote on the Huffington Post Web site. ?I am sure I was not alone in privately urging the campaign over the last two weeks to use the moment to take her due, pass the torch and cement her grace.?
Others close to Clinton were puzzled ? or plain frustrated ? by the mixed impression she left as Obama effectively wrapped up the nomination with a flood of support from Democratic superdelegates.
Rep. Rahm Emanuel, an Illinois Democrat with close ties to Obama and Clinton who had kept neutral throughout the presidential contest, told the Times that he was ?coming out from my desk? to endorse Obama. ?The fact is that he is the nominee,? Emanuel said.
?You don?t answer about whether you want to be vice president unless there?s no doubt in your mind that he is the nominee,? he said, referring to Clinton?s reluctance Tuesday to congratulate Obama while simultaneously telling supporters she would be open to being considered for a spot on his ticket.
An Obama-Clinton ticket?
Wednesday brought only more questions about Clinton's motives and the possibility she was jockeying for a vice presidential nod.
Obama disclosed he had spoken with Clinton earlier in the day.
?I just spoke to her today, and we?re going to be having a conversation in coming weeks. And I?m very confident how unified the Democratic party?s going to be to win in November,? Obama told reporters as he left the Senate.
But the Wall Street Journal reported that Obama advisers had signaled an Obama-Clinton ticket was unlikely. The Journal reported that people in both camps said there was a stumbling block ? that Bill Clinton might balk at releasing records of his business dealings and big donors to his presidential library.
Sure thing comes unraveled
For Hillary Clinton, it was an inauspicious end for a candidacy that appeared indestructible when it began 17 months ago.
She was armed with celebrity, a prodigious fundraising Rolodex, a battle-tested campaign team and a popular two-term former president as a husband, and many observers believed her victory in the Democratic nomination contest was a sure thing.
But in Obama, the New York senator faced an opponent who appeared perfectly suited to the time ? a charismatic newcomer who opposed the Iraq war from the beginning who offered voters a compelling message of change. Clinton voted for the legislation that authorized military force against Iraq.
After a disastrous showing in the leadoff Iowa caucuses Jan. 3, Clinton won New Hampshire's primary Jan. 8, setting off the state-by-state war of attrition with Obama that followed.
Her fortunes rose and fell like a fever chart: She was up in Nevada, down in South Carolina. Then, after a roughly even finish on Super Tuesday, she suffered a string of unanswered losses that, almost before Clinton noticed, put Obama so far ahead in the delegate hunt that all the big-state victories she piled up couldn't close the delegate gap.
By March, her options limited, Clinton adopted the persona of a fighter for the middle class, and powered through in states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, West Virginia and Kentucky, showing grit that earned her valuable political currency.
White men, blue-collar workers, socially conservative Democrats ? however you slice the electorate, she brought many of those people to her side while exposing Obama's vulnerabilities among those groups.
Voters, whose No. 1 concern had been ending the Iraq war at the campaign's outset, started worrying more about the economy. That was a switch from Obama's strength to hers.
Information from NBC News, The Associated Press, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal contributed to this report.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24974674
(http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24974674/)
----
Looks like it's now down to Obama vs McCain
MSNBC News Services
updated 12:24 a.m. ET, Thurs., June. 5, 2008
WASHINGTON - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16123860/) will suspend her campaign and endorse Sen. Barack Obama on Saturday, NBC News confirmed, bringing an end to a ground-breaking presidential race.
Hours after Barack Obama (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16438329/) sealed the nomination on Tuesday, Democrats coalesced around his candidacy, sending a strong signal to Clinton that it was time to bow out. The former first lady told House Democrats during a private conference call Wednesday that she will express support for Obama's candidacy and congratulate him for gathering the necessary delegates to be the party's nominee.
"Senator Clinton will be hosting an event in Washington, D.C., to thank her supporters and express her support for Senator Obama and party unity. This event will be held on Saturday to accommodate more of Senator Clinton's supporters who want to attend," said her communications director, Howard Wolfson.
Aides told NBC News that there would be a private staff event Friday in Washington, followed by the public event on Saturday. They said that she would not waive her right to have her name placed in nomination and that she had not negotiated for anything from Obama, such as debt relief for her campaign.
She was also leaving her options open to retain her delegates and promote issues important to her, including a signature call for universal health care.
One adviser told the New York Times that Clinton would concede defeat, congratulate Obama and proclaim him the party?s nominee, while pledging to do what was needed to assure his victory.
Also in the speech, Clinton will urge once-warring Democrats to focus on the general election and defeating Republican presidential candidate John McCain (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16438320/).
Options for ending it
She will be bringing to a close an epic five-month nominating battle pitting the first serious female candidate against the most viable black contender ever.
A senior Clinton adviser said the candidate and her lieutenants had discussed various ways a presidential candidacy can end, including suspending the campaign to retain control of her convention delegates and sustain her visibility in an effort to promote her signature issue of health care. This adviser spoke on condition of anonymity because officials were not authorized to discuss the conference call Clinton held with her congressional supporters.
The other options include freeing her delegates to back Obama and ending her candidacy unconditionally. The official stressed that neither Clinton nor her inner circle had decided specifically what course to take other than to recognize that the active state of her bid to become the nation's first female president had ended.
On the telephone call with impatient congressional supporters, Clinton was urged to draw a close to the contentious campaign, or at least express support for Obama. Her decision to acquiesce caught many in the campaign by surprise and left the campaign scrambling to finalize the logistics and specifics behind her campaign departure.
?We pledged to support her to the end,? Rep. Charles Rangel, a New York Democrat who has been a patron of Clinton's told The New York Times. ?Our problem is not being able to determine when the hell the end is.?
Clinton?s speech Tuesday, in which she praised Obama but gave no clear signal that she would exit the race or endorse the presumptive nominee anytime soon, stirred concern among some of her top supporters.
?By the time she got on that podium ... she knew it was over and that she had lost,? Hillary Rosen, one of Clinton?s most ardent female supporters, wrote on the Huffington Post Web site. ?I am sure I was not alone in privately urging the campaign over the last two weeks to use the moment to take her due, pass the torch and cement her grace.?
Others close to Clinton were puzzled ? or plain frustrated ? by the mixed impression she left as Obama effectively wrapped up the nomination with a flood of support from Democratic superdelegates.
Rep. Rahm Emanuel, an Illinois Democrat with close ties to Obama and Clinton who had kept neutral throughout the presidential contest, told the Times that he was ?coming out from my desk? to endorse Obama. ?The fact is that he is the nominee,? Emanuel said.
?You don?t answer about whether you want to be vice president unless there?s no doubt in your mind that he is the nominee,? he said, referring to Clinton?s reluctance Tuesday to congratulate Obama while simultaneously telling supporters she would be open to being considered for a spot on his ticket.
An Obama-Clinton ticket?
Wednesday brought only more questions about Clinton's motives and the possibility she was jockeying for a vice presidential nod.
Obama disclosed he had spoken with Clinton earlier in the day.
?I just spoke to her today, and we?re going to be having a conversation in coming weeks. And I?m very confident how unified the Democratic party?s going to be to win in November,? Obama told reporters as he left the Senate.
But the Wall Street Journal reported that Obama advisers had signaled an Obama-Clinton ticket was unlikely. The Journal reported that people in both camps said there was a stumbling block ? that Bill Clinton might balk at releasing records of his business dealings and big donors to his presidential library.
Sure thing comes unraveled
For Hillary Clinton, it was an inauspicious end for a candidacy that appeared indestructible when it began 17 months ago.
She was armed with celebrity, a prodigious fundraising Rolodex, a battle-tested campaign team and a popular two-term former president as a husband, and many observers believed her victory in the Democratic nomination contest was a sure thing.
But in Obama, the New York senator faced an opponent who appeared perfectly suited to the time ? a charismatic newcomer who opposed the Iraq war from the beginning who offered voters a compelling message of change. Clinton voted for the legislation that authorized military force against Iraq.
After a disastrous showing in the leadoff Iowa caucuses Jan. 3, Clinton won New Hampshire's primary Jan. 8, setting off the state-by-state war of attrition with Obama that followed.
Her fortunes rose and fell like a fever chart: She was up in Nevada, down in South Carolina. Then, after a roughly even finish on Super Tuesday, she suffered a string of unanswered losses that, almost before Clinton noticed, put Obama so far ahead in the delegate hunt that all the big-state victories she piled up couldn't close the delegate gap.
By March, her options limited, Clinton adopted the persona of a fighter for the middle class, and powered through in states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, West Virginia and Kentucky, showing grit that earned her valuable political currency.
White men, blue-collar workers, socially conservative Democrats ? however you slice the electorate, she brought many of those people to her side while exposing Obama's vulnerabilities among those groups.
Voters, whose No. 1 concern had been ending the Iraq war at the campaign's outset, started worrying more about the economy. That was a switch from Obama's strength to hers.
Information from NBC News, The Associated Press, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal contributed to this report.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24974674
(http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24974674/)
----
Looks like it's now down to Obama vs McCain