Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Will she, or Will she not?

Earlier in the day, the story online were that Senator Clinton would concede that Senator Obama had amassed sufficient votes to get the nomination, without suspending her campaign. It is now 4pm, and the tenor of the stories has changed.

The Wall Street Journal: Clinton: Not Conceding Tonight[Photo] Clinton aides denied reports that the New York senator will deliver a concession speech tonight, ending the long race for the Democratic presidential nomination. Clinton told congressional colleagues she would be open to becoming Obama's vice presidential nominee. South Dakota and Montana vote today, the final Democratic primary contests.

Nice of her to consider the VP job.

The Caucus blog in the NY Times: In another sign of just how bedeviled the Clinton campaign continues to be, it spent this morning frantically trying to keep news organizations from following an Associated Press report that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton will concede tonight that Barack Obama has enough delegates to claim the nomination.

Bloomberg (hardly the paradigm of great journalism) has it: June 3 (Bloomberg) -- Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe said Clinton will likely acknowledge Barack Obama is the Democratic presidential nominee as soon as he secures the required number of delegates.

Stay tuned. Well, that was at 4.30 pm. Looking at the news at 7pm, it seems she has already conceeded; to wit, an NY Times blog entry time-stamped 5.50pm:

Clinton Open to V.P. Slot, Lawmakers Say

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has told supporters that she would agree to be Senator Barack Obama’s running mate if he offered her the vice presidential spot.Mrs. Clinton made the remarks in an afternoon conference call with members of the New York Congressional delegation, according to two lawmakers who participated in the call.Mrs. Clinton prefaced the remarks by noting that she would do “anything to make sure a Democrat would win'’ the presidential election in November, said Representative Carolyn McCarthy, a Democrat from Long Island.“If Senator Obama asked her to be the V.P., she certainly would accept that,'’ she said. “She has obviously given some thought to this.'’ Representative Nydia Velasquez of New York City recalled the call with Mrs. Clinton similarly, saying: “She said that if it’s offered, she would take it.'’

If she's open to the VP slot, that means she realizes, and has so said, that the presidential nomination is closed to her. Nice spin. The minor negative is that if Hil gets the veep nod, Bill is in the game. Argh. Time will tell, For now, congrats, Senator Obama.

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