As Adam Nagourney, Carl Hulse and Jeff Zeleny noted in an excellent piece in today's NY Times, "No Roadmap for Democrats as Race Ends," really nobody's certain what's going to happen later this week. Perhaps, not even Hillary Clinton.
Looks like--at least for a few days if not a lot longer than that--she's leaving her options open, at least two of the three obvious ones, with either: a.) not endorsing Obama immediately and suspending her campaign until the Convention, or, b.) endorsing Obama sometime after this week being the two most likely end results for her campaign. (The third option, "c." would be to continue to campaign throughout the Summer, and while not a certainty, it doesn't look like that's viable at the moment.)
And, according to CNN's Jessica Yellin, reporting from San Juan, Puerto Rico moments ago, indications are that at least through Wednesday or Thursday, Clinton will be in Washington, D.C. lobbying superdelegates there quite hard for their votes.
Nagourney, Hulse and Zeleny comment in their piece today:
In many ways, Mr. Obama is wheezing across the finish line after making a strong start: He has won only 6 of the 13 Democratic contests held since March 4, drawing 6.1 million votes, compared with 6.6 million for Mrs. Clinton.
So, IMHO, barring events turning dramatically on Thursday or Friday, it doesn't look like Clinton will be endorsing Obama this week, as so many here and as so many pundits elsewhere have been claiming (all the way up to Pelosi, Reid and Dean) in the runup to June 3rd.
Pelosi, Reid and Dean were wrong when the said it would be over by March 24th. They were also wrong about it being over March 31st, April 9th, April 16th, April 23rd, May 7th, May 14th, May 21st, and May 28th.
So, why would the pundits and the CW be accurate as far as June 4th is concerned?
According to Nagourney, Hulse and Zeleny, the likelihood is almost certain that it'll be over this week, but not definitively so. There is no roadmap, as the headline of their piece indicates, and despite what "the majority" here and on other blogs swears is the case.
Her associates said the most likely outcome was that she would end her bid with a speech, probably back home in New York, in which she would endorse Mr. Obama. Mrs. Clinton herself suggested on Friday that the contest would end sometime next week.But that is not a certainty; Mr. Obama's announcement on Saturday that he would leave his church was just another reminder of how events continue to unfold in the race. She has signaled her ambivalence about the outcome, continuing to urge superdelegates to keep an open mind and consider, for example, the number of popular votes she has won. Gov. Phil Bredesen of Tennessee, a superdelegate who has been at the forefront of calling for uncommitted Democrats to make a choice soon after the last vote, said in an interview that Mrs. Clinton called him last week and urged him to "keep an open mind until the convention."
My emphasis added in bold, here.
This is uncharted territory. And, at the end of the day, it's Clinton that'll decide what she's doing, no matter how or whom others tries to force her to do otherwise.
Yellin's report on CNN, moments ago in Puerto Rico, supports this sentiment, too.
Frankly, I think this coming Wednesday, June 4th, is going to be a critical day in this race, however. It's around then when we're supposed to expect "droves" of Superdelegates to announce their support.
Question: How big is a "drove?" Precisely? I'm sure the Clinton campaign would like to know. I sure would!
According to today's NY Times piece, the race may be a bit more uncertain on the Superdelegate side of the field than some have been led to believe (even here on MyDD); Nagourney & Co. count only a little over a dozen of the 150, or so, remaining undecided Superdelegates as being in Obama's camp.
At least a dozen uncommitted delegates are viewed by both camps as almost certain to side with Mr. Obama once the primary season ends. But there are dozens of uncommitted superdelegates who resisted endorsements for reasons that are personal, political and pragmatic -- ranging from a fear of alienating contributors to reluctance among lawmakers from relatively conservative districts to be identified with either Mr. Obama or Mrs. Clinton.My emphasis added again in bold, here.
So, based upon events as recently as in the past hour (i.e.: Yellin's report from Puerto Rico), it sure looks like the "Fat Lady's" solo has been postponed...at least for a few days. Maybe until the end of August.
That will be up to Hillary Clinton to decide in any event.
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