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Born at the Crest of the Empire

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

This might be your twist

All the reporting seems to be that it is more or less over, but, of course, there's a twist.
They said Mrs. Clinton was not likely to withdraw from the race on Tuesday night, probably waiting until later in the week, once Mr. Obama’s victory appeared clear.

Mrs. Clinton has no public traveling schedule through the weekend, other than to Washington, reflecting what is, for all practical purposes, a campaign in suspension. Her associates said that no one in her campaign saw any way she could win the nomination, and that the only question now was when Mr. Obama could claim victory.

And here's the twist. The reporting this morning out of the Clinton camp seems to emphasize that she will suspend her campaign rather than end it. (WaPo, NYTimes)

Now, "suspending" is not uncommon. John Edwards suspended. Mike Huckabee suspended. That's usually what they do. It's a way to hang on to your delegates rather than just releasing them.

However, this has a little more impact in relation to Clinton because she's still making comments about trying to win over delegates throughout the summer and into the convention.

The most amazing line comes from the NYTimes version,
The most likely situation, some of Mrs. Clinton’s aides said, was that she would suspend her campaign later in the week and would probably — though not definitely — endorse Mr. Obama.

We'll know alot more over the next 48 hours.

2 Comments:

  • What I take away from this is that the Clinton camp is playing chicken. They refuse to officially withdraw, despite having lost the delegate fight, and are forcing Obama into the position of having to declare victory. Where, in Hillary's words, he'd be snatching the nomination from her before the official vote of the delegates at the convention, where they would all surely see the folly of supporting Obama and switch their votes to her, as is her divine destiny.

    She is working he media to cast Obama as the classless, graceless snob... elbowing a poor old woman to the curb with no so much as a 'beg your pardon.' And if he declares victory look for her and her surrogates to insinuate he is illegitimate.

    Hillary has worked every dirt-ball angle to kneecap Obama. And it looks like she'll continue indefinitely.... August... November... January...

    It's no longer about winning. It's about dishing a little "payback" -- a little FU -- to the person who had the nerve to challenge you and beat you at your own game.

    The supers are going to have to grow a back bone and announce their support for Obama NOW. And the party leaders are going to have to start leading and shut down the Clintons -- cast their grievances as bogus -- before real damage is done.

    And while I agree there's a tightrope to walk, Obama has to stop showing such deference to Clinton. After this week, if he continues to treat Hillary as a viable candidate he runs the risk of looking weak and of legitimizing her arguments and complaints.

    By Blogger -epm, at 8:47 AM  

  • I was thinking about it, and I think she may still be waiting to see if he gets "assassinated."

    They still believe something's going to come out, and they want to be available.

    It's a pretty fine needle to thread, though, stepping back, but staying in.

    (And I don't thjink this takes another week. I'm seeing Thursday as the latest.)

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 1:35 PM  

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