For a few minutes, this AP report certainly captured the political world’s attention.
Hillary Rodham Clinton will concede Tuesday night that Barack Obama has the delegates to secure the Democratic nomination, campaign officials said, effectively ending her bid to be the nation’s first female president. […]
The former first lady will stop short of formally suspending or ending her race in her speech in New York City. She will pledge to continue to speak out on issues like health care. But for all intents and purposes, the two senior officials said, the campaign is over.
Most campaign staff will be let go and will be paid through June 15, said the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to divulge her plans.
Just a few minutes later, the Clinton campaign issued a formal statement. In its entirety:
The AP story is incorrect. Senator Clinton will not concede the nomination this evening.
That sounds pretty categorical, though “will not concede” doesn’t rule out the possibility of suspending campaign operations.
Either way, there is increasing evidence that the withdrawal announcement may not come tonight, but it may not be too much longer, either.
Clinton campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe’s comments this morning sounded encouraging to those looking forward to the end of the Democratic race.
When asked whether Clinton would concede if Obama reaches the magic number today or tomorrow, McAuliffe said, “Yeah, I think that if Sen. Obama gets the number, I think Hillary Clinton will congratulate him, and call him the nominee.” He added, “I don’t think she’s going to the Credentials Committee…. We’re not gonna have a fight over four delegates.”
If McAuliffe’s perspective reflects the campaign’s current thinking, his remarks this morning tell us an awful lot. First, as we discussed yesterday, there was some talk that the Clinton campaign would not stop fighting even if Obama reached the 2,118 threshold, under the assumption that they Clinton and her team could change superdelegates’ minds between now and the convention. This morning, McAuliffe said this is not the case, and that Clinton is prepared to congratulate Obama once he reaches the magic number.
Second, McAuliffe certainly didn’t sound like a guy ready to appeal the Rules and Bylaws Committee compromise to the Credentials Committee. Just the opposite; he suggested Clinton doesn’t want to pursue that avenue at all.
It is, in other words, almost over.