Clinton drop out watch
Posted: Thursday, May 08, 2008 9:16 AM by Mark Murray
Lots of Clinton backers and undecideds are talking on the record. “‘The air is completely let out of them,’ said first-term Rep. Jason Altmire of Pennsylvania, who is uncommitted to either candidate, referring to the Clinton supporters among his congressional colleagues. ‘They are resigned to the fact that it's probably not going to work out.’”
Sen. Chuck Schumer, per the New York Post: "It's her decision to make and I'll accept what decision she makes," he said.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein told The Hill: "I, as you know, have great fondness and great respect for Sen. Clinton and I'm very loyal to her," Feinstein said. "Having said that, I'd like to talk with her and [get] her view on the rest of the race and what the strategy is. I think the race is reaching the point now where there are negative dividends from it, in terms of strife within the party."
The Los Angeles Times: “‘It's a tough race,’ said Don Fowler, a former national Democratic Party chairman and Clinton superdelegate from South Carolina. ‘If things had been a little better in North Carolina, we would be stronger than we are today. But the game's not over till it's over.’”
“‘She has to look realistically at the vote [Tuesday] and decide what's best for her candidacy, what's best for the country, what's best for the party,’ said Democratic Rep. Dale E. Kildee, a longtime Clinton backer.”
“‘Let's have the people have their say,’ Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski of Maryland told the crowd, which included some congressional supporters. ‘We're riled up. We're revved up. We're ready to go.’”
Nancy Pelosi of California, the speaker of the House, was among those on Wednesday giving Mrs. Clinton room to make her own calculations about the race, saying ‘a win is a win,’ in reference to the Indiana results. ‘The race is alive and well and will continue,’ she told reporters.”
“‘It’s hard to answer that question; she has lost in North Carolina, but it looks like she won Indiana, which everyone expected,’ said Alan Patricof, one of Mrs. Clinton’s national finance chairmen. ‘I think she’s committed to going forward, but it’s hard to know. She is the one to make the decision about what she does. And a lot of us have trust and faith in her to make the best decision.’”
"Clinton advisers said they were concerned that the candidate’s online fund-raising, which boomed after her victory in the Ohio primary in March and in Pennsylvania in April, had slowed by comparison on Tuesday night and Wednesday, and that her donor base was either tightening somewhat or playing wait-and-see, despite her public appeal for money on Tuesday night. Clinton aides did not send out the near-hourly e-mail blasts bragging about online donations that came after previous successes."
So what is the Clinton case for staying? "Clinton vowed Wednesday to continue her quest for the Democratic nomination, arguing she would be the stronger nominee because she appeals to a wider coalition of voters — including whites who have not supported Barack Obama in recent contests. ‘I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on,’ she said in an interview with USA TODAY. As evidence, Clinton cited an Associated Press article ‘that found how Sen. Obama's support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me.’”
“Clinton's blunt remarks about race came a day after primaries in Indiana and North Carolina dealt symbolic and mathematical blows to her White House ambitions. The Obama campaign, looking toward locking up the nomination, stepped up pressure on superdelegates who have the decisive votes in their race."
The Washington Post: "Clinton needs to prevent Obama from winning endorsements from a substantial number of uncommitted superdelegates before the primaries end. ‘If enough move, that's it,’ one Clinton adviser said. The Clinton team booked a room at a Capitol Hill restaurant for a meeting with superdelegates. The campaign described it as a casual gathering for their liaisons but canceled it when told that the House was in an uproar over the housing bill and so nobody could come.”
“Clinton did meet with some uncommitted superdelegates individually. House Budget Committee Chairman John M. Spratt Jr. (S.C.) told her cordially that his state had gone overwhelmingly for Obama, and that he could not endorse her, Spratt spokesman Chuck Fant said. He pledged to stay neutral for now. One Clinton adviser, speaking on the condition of anonymity to be frank, said: ‘If the supers weren't buying it before, it's hard to see how they'll buy it now.’”
The Washington Post editorial page basically proclaims Obama the Dem nominee in its lead editorial today under the header: "Mr. Obama Moves On."
