Clinton to end campaign
Posted: Thursday, June 05, 2008 9:27 AM by Mark Murray
The New York Times reports that Clinton will endorse Obama on Saturday, “bringing a close to her 17-month campaign for the White House, aides said. Her decision came after Democrats urged her Wednesday to leave the race and allow the party to coalesce around Mr. Obama. Howard Wolfson, one of Mrs. Clinton’s chief strategists, and other aides said she would express support for Mr. Obama and party unity at an event in Washington that day. One adviser said Mrs. Clinton would concede defeat, congratulate Mr. Obama and proclaim him the party’s nominee, while pledging to do what was needed to assure his victory in November.”
“Her decision came after a day of conversations with supporters on Capitol Hill about her future now that Mr. Obama had clinched the nomination. Mrs. Clinton had, in a speech after Tuesday night’s primaries, suggested she wanted to wait before deciding about her future, but in conversations Wednesday, her aides said, she was urged to step aside.”
Per NBC’s Andrea Mitchell, Clinton will endorse Obama, but she will not waive her right to have her name placed in nomination at the convention. Clinton will thank supporters, talk about party unity, and praise Obama. As Mitchell reported on TODAY, by late afternoon on a conference call Rep. Charlie Rangel and 22 other congressional supporters told Clinton she had to give up -- by the end of the week. Separately, Clinton received a gentle push -- not a shove -- from eight Senate friends, including Sens. Schumer, Mikulski, and Feinstein, who told her to think about preserving her future options.
Clinton sent this note to her supporter email list: “I wanted you to be one of the first to know: on Saturday, I will hold an event in Washington D.C. to thank everyone who has supported my campaign. Over the course of the last 16 months, I have been privileged and touched to witness the incredible dedication and sacrifice of so many people working for our campaign. Every minute you put into helping us win, every dollar you gave to keep up the fight meant more to me than I can ever possibly tell you. On Saturday, I will extend my congratulations to Senator Obama and my support for his candidacy. This has been a long and hard-fought campaign, but as I have always said, my differences with Senator Obama are small compared to the differences we have with Senator McCain and the Republicans.”
The Washington Post: “Although Obama was the newly crowned winner of the Democratic race, the focus remained on Clinton through much of yesterday as Democrats pushed anxiously for her to bring her candidacy to an end. Even some supporters of Clinton were baffled by the fact that she had still neither endorsed Obama nor announced an intention to continue fighting for the nomination all the way through the Democratic National Convention in August.”
“The decision came late in an emotionally exhausting day, after Clinton bade farewell to her distraught, weeping staffers at her suburban Washington headquarters and spent hours hearing from friends and Democratic powerbrokers,” the New York Daily News writes. “ ‘It was very emotional,’ an insider said. ‘There were lots of young people crying, people who really believed and gave everything.’”
The Boston Globe: “Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democratic Governors Association Chairman Joe Manchin and Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean issued this joint statement that could be viewed as putting more pressure on Hillary Clinton to concede defeat. Democrats must now turn our full attention to the general election. To that end, we are urging all remaining uncommitted super delegates to make their decisions known by Friday of this week so that our party can stand united and begin our march toward reversing the eight years of failed Bush/McCain policies that have weakened our country.”
