Breaking: Hillary To Suspend Campaign
A senior Hillaryland source confirms to us that reports Hillary will drop out of the race on Friday and endorse Obama are accurate.
NYT:
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is moving to suspend her campaign and endorse Senator Barack Obama on Friday after Democratic members of Congress urged her Wednesday to leave the race and allow the party to coalesce around Mr. Obama, according to a senior adviser to Mrs. Clinton.Mrs. Clinton is likely to make the announcement in New York City, an aide said, though no final venue has been chosen.
Her decision came after a day of telephone conversations with supporters on Capitol Hill about what she should do now that Mr. Obama had claimed enough delegates to be able to clinch the nomination. Mrs. Clinton had initially said she wanted to wait before making any decision, but her aides said that in conversations, some of her closest supporters said it was urgent that she step aside.
"We pledged to support her to the end," said Representative Charles W. Rangel, a New York Democrat who has been a patron of Mrs. Clinton since she first ran for the Senate. "Our problem is not being able to determine when the hell the end is."
Late Update: The latest reports are that the event where she announces her withdrawal and endorsement will be Saturday.
Late Late Update: Here's the statement from the Hillary campaign -- the event is indeed on Saturday:
Senator Clinton will be hosting an event in Washington, DC on [Saturday] to thank her supporters and express her support for Senator Obama and party unity.
Which is to say, it's official.
The light at the end of the tunnel.
June 4, 2008 7:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
what a classy bunch.
the sad truth is, john mccain has just been elected the 44th president of the united states.
the good truth is hillary's time will soon come. we'll all realize she was right and she will become the first woman president of the unites states in 2012.
June 4, 2008 10:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Keep smoking that good stuff, okee. You'll need it to get you through to Obama's inauguration.
June 4, 2008 10:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
he won't be inaugurating anything.
we can enjoy the glory now, but he'll lose in november.
June 4, 2008 10:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh yeah , Obamas going to lose to some old fart who can barely read a teleprompter. Good one .
June 4, 2008 10:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
and george w. bush was elected to HOW many terms?
June 4, 2008 10:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Your powers of prognostication underwhelm me.
June 4, 2008 10:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm not trying to be a jerk but do you live in Kentucky or West Virginia?
June 4, 2008 10:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
I have no idea who okee is and I don't care. But let's not sit in our progressive TPM bubble and have the false sense that everyone in this country has a brain and there are only a few racists. My colleague told me today that no one in her family (they live in OHIO) will vote for Obama. Her mom believes he's gotten all his campaign money from the Saudis!!! And this family is one of the "educated" ones. OMG. We will have to work our butts off for every single vote - so get ready
June 5, 2008 1:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
Please move. If you honestly think Hillary ran a good campaign (as gracious as Obama has been to her) you're deluded. You're also deluded if you think that McCain will win in November.
If he does, then I'm moving, because something is batshit crazy in this country.
June 4, 2008 10:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hillery mislead her supporters for weeks now just to get them to continue to contribute to what she knew all along was lost cause. I just hope that her supporters realize that they were used for money.
June 5, 2008 1:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
If you could vote on the internet, Obama might have a chance, but since you cannot, I am not confident that younger voters will stage a big turnout.
Secondly, older Americans were never supporters of Obama and they won't be now either.
June 5, 2008 11:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
Um.. . bwahahahaha! That's not change we can believe in!
I can't *WAIT* until the first debate. John McClueless had better bring something even better than his "A" game... and a fresh change of Depends!
Frankly, he's about 15 years past his "A" game, though nobody wants to say it... but it's really starting to show. Once upon a time, he came off as a ranting yet oftentimes effective hothead. Now, he comes off as a transparently scripted, teleprompter-reading hack, who simply cannot back away from his Bush-like positions on the issues.
McCain is fine candidate... on paper... so long as he's not forced to speak in public or think on his feet. Increasingly though, he's coming off as the worst oratorical Presidential or Vice Presidential candidate since James Stockdale. (Yes, that includes Dan Quayle, who was somehow, amazingly, a better public speaker than McCain currently is.)
What we're going to witness in this campaign is an oratorical mugging, with the media repeatedly pointing out his numerous inaccuracies and the fact that he looks incredibly old, lost, and uncomfortable. He'll be *wishing* that he'll have Lieberman on stage to whisper in his ear.
McSame will beg and plead for town halls, ideally with a format where he won't be mobbed by a supportive Obama audience, and where can hopefully stay on message without having to answer too many unexpected questions. Instead, he's going to get head-to-head debates, when Obama feels like it... and given that Obama is a far more effective campaigner than McClone, with the capability of actually exciting and mobilizing armies of supporters, every day McCain spends on the campaign trail will be a step backwards. And as for the debates, he will lose them too!
Frankly, this is Obama's election to lose... and he can afford to act like it. He doesn't need to cede McCain any ground or advantages, because he will be winning every day simply by staying in the race, speaking to large crowds of Americans, and playing his game.
One thing is for sure. McLame can't win by saying -- after eight years of Bush -- that change and putting middle-class Americans first sucks.
June 4, 2008 10:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
I know. I fear that if Obama outshines McCain right away, the Republicans are going to figure this out and run someone else. Hang in there, McCain!
June 4, 2008 11:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wanna bet?
June 5, 2008 1:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
Watch the polls. their are enough intellegent people in this county to pull off the vote for Obama to win.
June 5, 2008 1:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
I don't know where idiotic is, but I'll do it for him:
THIS IS EXCELLENT NEWS!! FOR HILLARY!!!!
June 4, 2008 7:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
perfect
June 4, 2008 7:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
You know what, I think it actually is. A hell of a lot of people are going to stop being mad at her. That can't be bad.
June 4, 2008 7:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Actually, I think some of her supporters who are still donating money today (!) might be a bit upset.
June 4, 2008 7:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Who would be continuing to donate money to her campaign at this point?
June 4, 2008 8:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
dijamo for one.
June 4, 2008 8:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
The sympathetic, those in the first stage of grief, and the mentally ill.
June 4, 2008 9:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well played.
June 5, 2008 12:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm pretty sure that well dried up a month or more ago.
June 5, 2008 7:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
very good work. in keeping with the EXCELLENCE Magnitude Scale EMS it should be 3 exclamation points followed by 4 as this is previously unseen levels of excellence. To wit, THIS IS EXCELLENT NEWS!!! FOR HILLARY!!!!
June 4, 2008 8:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ack! Where you been?
June 4, 2008 9:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
The generic is never as good as the brand name :)
June 4, 2008 9:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wow. I love the way that sounds tonight. I would totally buy that T-Shirt. You listening, Idiotic?
June 4, 2008 9:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
BRILLIANT!!!
Are you listening, idiotic?!
June 4, 2008 10:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't sell shirts. I think there's a place online that does though, peruse the archives.
June 4, 2008 10:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
You should at least be getting royalties.
http://www.zazzle.com/this_is_excellent_news_for_hillary_shirt-235456910823818404
June 4, 2008 10:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
thank freakin god.
June 4, 2008 7:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thank Charlie Rangel
June 4, 2008 7:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Really? How so?
June 4, 2008 7:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
for perpetuating the Hillary-Go-Round for months and months.
Now the republicans have absolutely fabulous footage to use where she had months and months to call Barack every name in the book, praise John McCain for being all that is good and wonderful in the world, and that the black muslim sexist does not pass the threshold to be president.
Yeah, thanks Rangel!
June 4, 2008 8:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
True point.
June 4, 2008 8:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Rangel forced the conference call with congressional supporters of Hillary who told her to get off the pot since they were now expected to support Obama. Rangel in particular needed to get behind his Harlem constituency, so he was in the forefront of the "time to wrap this baby up" call.
June 5, 2008 7:32 AM | Reply | Permalink
Finally!
June 4, 2008 7:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
There's more than one way to take that. In one sense I want to yell - "o come on! The hell you can't tell." In another sense, I'm dying laughing at that.
June 4, 2008 7:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
I cheered and got hot BBQ all on m'self!
She got took to the woodshed today by the adults in her party. Score a big one for democracy!
June 4, 2008 7:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Exactly. About time.
June 4, 2008 8:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Pork, I hope?!?!
June 4, 2008 8:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is replay to TenaX quoting Rangal "Our problem is not being able to determine when the hell the end is."
When I read this I thought it said
"Our problem is not being able to determine when this hell will end."
I swear!
June 4, 2008 11:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
"We pledged to support her to the end," said Representative Charles W. Rangel, a New York Democrat who has been a patron of Mrs. Clinton since she first ran for the Senate. "Our problem is not being able to determine when the hell the end is."
Charlie Rangel does not disappoint!
June 4, 2008 7:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes. Finally.
I still don't understand why Friday. It is Wednesday and already a day too late.
What kind of entitlement is this?
June 4, 2008 7:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
As long as we all know that she's out, I'm cool with giving her time to write her concession speech and work out the details of her exit. It will be better for the party if she does it her way (so long as it's not destructive--I know, that's a big IF).
June 4, 2008 7:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm not wanting to be crass, but since Friday is also the 40th anniversery of a terrible tragedy in the history of politican campaigns, maybe she'll include in her concessin speech an actual apology for what she said a few weeks ago.
Not holding my breath on that. but when and until I hear her say "I concede" I am not willing to give her any slack.
She did, after all, have her surrogate negotiate the deal with punishing early states, she drafted and signed a commitment to not campaign and not particiapte - but yet she frothed up all her supporters to create havoc last weekend at the RBC and beyond.
June 4, 2008 8:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
She will 'suspend', not concede.
June 4, 2008 8:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's just a technicality, it really doesn't mean anything and it allows her to try and raise a few dollars to pay off some of her debt.
June 4, 2008 9:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Friday is the 40th anniversary of a terrible tragedy.
Maybe she is planning to include an apology with her concession speech in honor of the occasion.
But honestly, I am not quite sure I will believe her if she concedes on Friday anyways. She did sign that famous pledge about early voting states and see how well a signed promise did us there.
June 4, 2008 8:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Greg failed to mention a key point, a more important point- NYT reports Hillary will Endorse Obama.
June 4, 2008 7:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
correction and apologies to Greg. He did say it, I just didn't see it. I do think however, it deserves to be a part of the headline.
June 4, 2008 7:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Actually I'm pretty sure I read earlier today that unless I hear it straight from Hillary it's false, and anyone in the big, bad ol' media who tries to tell me different is a lying liar.
June 5, 2008 1:03 AM | Reply | Permalink
Don't you guys get it? Every time some un-named source in the Clinton campaign leaks this stuff, Hillary does the exact opposite thing.
In teacher school we learned a technique called extinguishing.
Stop paying attention to these attention getting behaviors. It only encourages her.
Stop reporting on her. Stop making these behaviors relevant.
There are bigger fish to fry.
June 4, 2008 7:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm with you. I'll believe it when I see it. There have been too many of these "leaks" that are later denied.
I'll cross my fingers, but I won't hold my breath.
June 4, 2008 7:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
What mutu wa mbuzi said! When we see it, we'll believe it...
June 4, 2008 11:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Her own supporters in Congreff got tired of her Norma Desmond act
June 4, 2008 7:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Norma Desmond? I thought it was Carrie, myself.
June 4, 2008 11:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey, she's still big; it's the NOMINATION that got small!
:norma desmond:
June 5, 2008 12:49 AM | Reply | Permalink