On Meet The Press yesterday, Barack Obama supporter and surrogate Tom Daschle said he expects Barack and Hillary to share the stage "soon," expressing absolute confidence that Hillary would endorse Barack as the winner of the nomination and that the "party would be united." When this unity gesture would happen is far from certain, however as we're getting some messages that the Clinton campaign intends to go on past Tuesday even if Barack hits the 2118 delegates needed to clinch the nomination and declares victory.
From Ben Smith:
Clinton campaign Chairman Terry McAuliffe tells my colleague Ken Vogel in San Juan that Hillary Clinton will "probably" continue a retail-level campaign operation after Tuesday's primaries regardless of what happens in them.Team Clinton also won't necessarily consider the campaign over if rival Barack Obama soon reaches the 2,118-delegate threshold necessary to clinch the nomination.
"No, it's not it," McAuliffe responded when a reporter asked if securing 2,118 delegates would mark the end of the marathon race. "We'll see. We're going to get through Tuesday's votes. We're going to see where we are, and we're going to look at all of our options. Every option is on the table."
He also said that their primary strategy right now is to go after the uncommitted superdelegates and even some of those who've committed to Obama.
"We're calling the uncommitted ones, primarily. But we've heard things. You know, you pick up stuff. So we're following up on leads that we get," he said. "Just remember: No superdelegate is bound until they vote at the convention."
Hillary herself suggested as much to reporters on her campaign plane.
The former first lady enters this week with an insurgent strategy not only to win over undecided superdelegates but to peel away Obama's support from those party leaders and elected officials who already have committed to back him for the nomination."One thing about superdelegates is that they can change their minds," she told reporters aboard her campaign plane Sunday night.
And in an effort to prove just that point...
Clinton invited Virgin Islands superdelegate Kevin Rodriguez, a recent convert, to travel with her to South Dakota where she planned to campaign Monday. Rodriguez had initially supported Clinton, switched to Obama, and recently returned to her camp.
But on the complete other side of the coin are some signs that would seem to point to Clinton's imminent departure from the race.
Marc Ambinder catalogs the clues:
(1) She's going to speak Tuesday night from New York, not from South Dakota or Montana.(2) The Politico reports that members of her advance staff are being recalled to New York and being given hints that their employment is over; yes, Clinton won't have any more states to campaign in, but the Obama campaign is not shedding its advance staff after Tuesday
(3) Cheryl Mills, a very senior Clinton adviser, intends to return, full-time, to her job as senior vice president at American University.
(4) Junior members of the staff are making plans for vacation, and they're not receiving any push-back from their bosses.
What Clinton does is at least in part determined by what Obama does and when he does it, of course, but he has indicated repeatedly that the same does not go for him. In other words, Barack will declare victory when he reaches 2118 delegates regardless of whether Clinton concedes or not. I personally am hoping there is as little time as possible between his declaration of victory and her concession. The longer the gap between these two events, the more likely Clinton will be portrayed as Don Quixote chasing windmills. That would be a sad way for Senator Clinton's historic campaign to conclude.
Update [2008-6-2 11:20:29 by Todd Beeton]:Even more mixed messages, per First Read:
While there are plenty of hints today from some of her top supporters (like Ed Rendell and Debbie Wasserman Schultz) that Clinton won’t take this to the convention, it’s also clear that she and her campaign aren’t leaving without a fight. Examples: 1) Harold Ickes declaring that Clinton reserves her right to take that fight to the convention over four Michigan delegates; 2) the campaign implicitly linking Obama with George McGovern by stating that the last time the Democrats didn’t give the nomination to the candidate who won the most votes was in 1972; [...] and 4) her victory speech yesterday from Puerto Rico, in which she said in the end: “Let’s keep fighting. Let’s keep fighting. Let's keep fighting. Let's keep fighting.”
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