MSNBC news has just reported that Hillary Clinton will acknowledge tonight that Barack Obama has enough delegates to win the Democratic nomination and will concede. The news flash from AP said:
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.
There had been speculation that Clinton was planning to end her campaign soon, informing her staff yesterday that no more campaign events were planned.
The report may be a few hours premature, considering the polls are still open in Montana and South Dakota, but those voters may be as relieved as everyone else that this interminable primary contest is about to end.
What Clinton does next is anyone’s guess. There has been a lot of talk about party reconciliation and maybe putting her on the ticket as Obama’s vice president, but it remains to be seen whether Obama wants her (and Bill) as his running mate(s).
Update: In yet another conflicting report, so typical of this primary race, Terry McAuliffe, chairman of the Clinton campaign, is now saying the AP report is “100%” wrong. In a live telephone call to MSNBC, Clinton chief strategist Harold Ickes is also saying the AP report is wrong.
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Why do people like to call a race before it even finishes? The same thing happened in 2000 and repeated in 2004 (Kerry had big lead in polls). Obama does not have enough delegates yet. Let all the votes counted first.
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I agree the whole thing gets pretty ridiculous. The last time there was a primary, one of the cable networks declared a winner while their on-screen numbers showed “0” votes counted.