Despite mounting pressure, Clinton shows no sign of quitting race
WASHINGTON – Dogged by defections and signs of financial trouble, Hillary Rodham Clinton faced a significant shift Wednesday even among supporters as talk turned from how she might win to how she can end her presidential campaign gracefully.
As more ballots trickled in from Indiana and North Carolina, Obama padded his lead in the delegate count and national popular vote, increasing the already long odds against Clinton winning the Democratic Party nomination. Democrats worried that another month of rough campaigning could further hurt Obama’s chances in the fall election.
Clinton showed no signs of quitting. She made a hastily planned visit to West Virginia, which votes Tuesday, and revealed she had loaned her campaign $6.4 million on top of an earlier $5 million infusion. “I am in this race,” the New York senator told a gathering of nearly 1,500 women supporters at a Washington fundraiser Wednesday night. “I am staying in this race.”
But a day after losing North Carolina in a landslide and barely squeaking past Obama in Indiana, Clinton was suddenly in the position her rival occupied for the past few weeks: confronting doubts after her perceived underperformance.
Among those expressing concern was California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Clinton superdelegate. “I have great fondness and great respect for Senator Clinton, and I’m very loyal to her. That said, I’d like to talk with her and get her view on the rest of the race and what the strategy is … ,” she said. “I think the race is reaching the point now where there are negative dividends from it, in terms of strife within the party.”
Others were more blunt. “I think effectively the race is over,” said strategist Tad Devine, a 30-year veteran of Democratic politics. “Obama will be the nominee of the Democratic Party.”
Obama had a day off at home in Chicago. Though he plans to campaign in West Virginia and in Oregon – ahead of that state’s May 20 primary – aides said his focus will increasingly turn to the general election.
“Everyone is eager to get on with it,” said David Axelrod, Obama’s chief strategist.
Obama continued to gain support, picking up pledges from four superdelegates – including former Clinton backers from North Carolina and Virginia – as well as Inola Henry, a California member of the Democratic National Committee.
Clinton sent out an e-mail appeal for money Wednesday; she planned to attend a Los Angeles fundraiser next week.
At this stage, the presidential campaign is largely a matter of metrics, and Obama made gains Wednesday in two of the most important measurements: the number of pledged delegates and the popular votes cast in more than 40 contests across the country.
Obama picked up at least 97 delegates in North Carolina and Indiana, according to the Associated Press. Under the party’s proportional allocations, Clinton won at least 86.
That gives Obama 1,846.5 of the 2,025 delegates needed to win the nomination at the party’s convention in Denver this summer. Clinton had 1,696.5 delegates.
Neither candidate can win solely with the support of pledged delegates, which has heightened the competition for superdelegates.
In the popular vote, Obama now leads Clinton by about 700,000 votes, excluding the disputed results in Michigan and Florida. Neither candidate contested the states after they were stripped of their delegates for breaking party rules by holding their primaries too early. Both had agreed to honor the party’s decision and Obama kept his name off the Michigan ballot. But in a news conference in Shepardsville, W.Va., Clinton suggested she would fight to seat delegates from the two states – which she won – all the way to the convention floor, if necessary.