| There have been signals all day that Hillary Clinton's campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination may be coming to an end.
First, there was this:
Clinton camp converging on New York Tuesday, and shedding staff
Members of Hillary Clinton's advance staff received calls and emails this evening from headquarters summoning them to New York City Tuesday night, and telling them their roles on the campaign are ending, two Clinton staffers tell my colleague Amie Parnes.
The advance staffers - most of them now in Puerto Rico, South Dakota, and Montana - are being given the options of going to New York for a final day Tuesday, or going home, the aides said. The move is a sign that the campaign is beginning to shed - at least - some of its staff. The advance staff is responsible for arranging the candidate's events around the country.
Then there was this: Bill's 'Last Day'?
Bill Clinton acknowledged Monday that today may be his last campaigning for his wife.
"I want to say also, that this may be the last day I'm ever involved in a campaign of this kind," the former president said at a town hall at the Milbank Visitor Center.
Then this: Clinton Schedule Show Signs of Slowing
Late last night an email went out to advance staffers-- the folks who usually prepare sites for future Clinton campaign events. The memo indicated that there was nothing on Sen. Hillary Clinton's schedule beyond a speech scheduled for the AIPAC conference on Wed morning in Washington.
The email told staffers this was not goodbye but there were no plans and therefore no locations where their services would be needed for now.
The primaries are ending, so it doesn't seem all that surprising to me that the campaign would be shedding some advance staff and it's not shocking that that Clinton's schedule may not be as lively after Wednesday. These aren't the signs that a campaign gearing up for the general election would give off, but they aren't necessarily the signs of a campaign that is about to kick the bucket.
But, then there's this: Clinton Summons Top Donors, Supporters For Tuesday Speech
Hillary Clinton has summoned top donors and backers to attend her speech tomorrow night in an unusual move that is being widely interpreted to mean she plans to suspend her campaign and endorse Barack Obama.
Obama and Clinton spoke Sunday night and agreed that their staffs should begin negotiations over post-primary activities. In addition to help raising money to pay off some $20 million-plus in debts, Clinton is known to want Obama to help out black officials who endorsed her and are now taking constituent heat, including, in some cases, primary challenges from pro-Obama politicians.
"This has never happened before," one donor said, referring to the personalized request by email to attend the event in New York Tuesday night.
That's rather interesting. Could this finally be the end? |
