MoveOn.org is getting out of the 527 business.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The political advocacy group MoveOn.org is getting out of the 527 business.

"While MoveOn Political Action has always been funded exclusively by small donors like you, we've held open the MoveOn.org Voter Fund - a separate "527″ organization - which can raise money from big donors. We haven't actually taken any big-money checks since 2004," MoveOn.org Executive Director Eli Pariser wrote in an email to the group's members. "In light of the new politics offered by Barack Obama, I've come to believe it's time to close the 527 forever."

The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee has said he does not want "527s" and outside, independent groups advertising on his behalf in the general election. A "527″ is an political organization that can raise money in high dollar amounts and launch political advocacy campaigns, including television ads.

Read the rest of this entry »

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Hillary Clinton is expected to “officially suspend her campaign” and urge her 18 million supporters to “unequivocally throw her support behind [Barack] Obama” in a concession speech Saturday, says Clinton campaign spokesperson, Mo Elleithee.

In the estimated 20 minute speech, Clinton is expected to stress how high the stakes are in this election. According to Elleithee, Clinton will tell the crowd: all the reasons why she entered the race are still there and everyone needs to get a Democrat into the White House.

Clinton will also reflect on what she and her supporters were able to accomplish, as well as put in context, historically, what her candidacy has meant for women.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Less than a day after Barack Obama effectively clinched the Democratic presidential nomination, CNN has confirmed that some of the staffers at Hillary Clinton’s campaign headquarters have been told that Friday is their last day of work.

The New York senator — who visited them at her Arlington, Virginia headquarters late Wednesday afternoon after learning of the news — invited them to gather at her home Friday, according to several of those present.

The meeting was described as emotional for some. "We are talking to people who have been at this 24-7,” one staffer told CNN. “We are not surprised — and we are stunned. What can I tell you?” The staffer said Clinton herself was "gracious," but offered no further description of her demeanor.

ABC, which first reported the development, also said those on staff have been informed they will continue to receive paychecks through June 15.

YANKTON, South Dakota (CNN) – Clinton aides said they do not expect there to be a Democratic nominee Tuesday evening when the final polls close in the 2008 primary season.

“Until there is a nominee, we are still working to become that nominee,” said campaign spokesman Mo Elleithee.

It remains unclear how the Clinton campaign will respond should Obama amass the 2,118 delegates needed to clinch the nomination. Elleithee told reporters the campaign would “cross that bridge” if they came to it and suggested if the campaign challenged the allocation of Michigan delegates the number of delegates needed to secure the nomination might change.

Read the rest of this entry »

Clinton says she’s pressing on – but reviewing “available options.”

JACKSONVILLE, Florida (CNN) – Before leaving Puerto Rico, Hillary Clinton told reporters she is taking the presidential race “a day at a time” and is reviewing the “options available” as she moves ahead with her campaign.

“People have been trying to get me out of this race since Iowa and my political obituary has yet to be written and we’re going forward,” she said. (Related: Clinton says she's not ready for 'political obituary')

After Tuesday’s final two primaries, superdelegates will ultimately push either candidate up to the 2,118 delegates needed to secure the Democratic Party’s nomination. Barack Obama leads among this group, but Clinton pointed out superdelegates are always free to “change their minds” and she hopes they will evaluate her wins since February and the coalition of voters she’s pulled together.

“This has been such an intense process, I don’t think there has been a lot of time for reflection of the sort that I’m advocating which is okay we’ve had an extraordinary series of contests, I’m ahead in the popular vote, Senator Obama is ahead in the delegates … they’ve never been separated before,” she said.

“I think it’s only now that we’re finishing these contests that people are going to actually reflect. Who’s our stronger candidate? And I believe I am and I’m going to make that case and at some point it will either be accepted or it won’t be, but I feel strongly about making it.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Sen. Clinton waves from her campaign caravan in Puerto Rico on Saturday.

Rolling through GUAYNABO, Puerto Rico (CNN) — Sen. Hillary Clinton's marathon caravan through the communities surrounding San Juan rolls on.

For the last several hours, the candidate has stood atop a souped-up white truck with her campaign logo splashed on the side. She's endured drizzle (umbrella immediately appeared) and sun (visor put on).

She's blown air-kisses to the crowd, waved at women in rollers who have come running, screaming, from beauty parlors, and stood quietly looking out over the landscape.

The mess of reporters following her has had the chance to survey every change in her facial expression as they hang off a covered truck mere feet from the presidential candidate.

The never-ending, ear-splitting soundtrack for this Puerto Rican campaign tradition is a mix of Ricky Martin and a salsa campaign jingle that includes an announcer screaming, "Who is here? Hillary Clinton, the next president of the United States!"

At various intersections, drivers of trucks and cars lay on their horns, trying to compete with the decibel level of the roughly 15-foot speaker leading Clintons ever-growing caravan.

As for news? It's slim pickings. One intrepid pool reporter attempted a question about the DNC meeting that could decide the status of disputed delegates from Florida and Michigan as the candidate briefly ducked into a restaurant but came up empty.

The caravan — over 15 cars long — rolls on.

CAGUAS, Puerto Rico (CNN) — Hillary Clinton’s campaign embarked on a jam-packed day of Puerto Rico campaigning Saturday in an effort to get out tomorrow’s primary vote as a Democratic National Committee panel convened in Washington to essentially decide how the Democratic primary process will end.

A Clinton aide said she will likely receive updates from staff at the DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee meeting.

Clinton made no mention of the fight to seat the Florida and Michigan delegations during her first stop at a hospital where she talked about her plan to bring equitable and universal health care to Puerto Rico.

Several supporters addressed her as “President Clinton,” prompting cheers from the crowd.

Puerto Rico is not only important to Clinton’s presidential aspirations but also as a senator from New York who represents approximately 1 million Puerto Ricans.

“Campaigning in Puerto Rico is like one long Puerto Rican Day parade,” she said referencing a yearly event in New York City.

Clinton will spend the day “caravanning,” a Puerto Rican political tradition in which the candidate rides through various communities meeting and greeting voters and produces a wild and carnival-like atmosphere.

Read the rest of this entry »

Clinton campaigned in Montana Tuesday.

(CNN) – With only three primary contests remaining in the prolonged race for the Democratic nomination, Hillary Clinton is stepping up her efforts to convince potential voters and the party's superdelegates that she is a stronger general election candidate than Barack Obama.

In a particularly spirited speech Tuesday night at a Montana campaign event, the New York Senator suggested Obama is much more likely to lose to presumptive Republican nominee John McCain next fall.

"We have not gone through this exciting unprecedented historic election only to lose," Clinton said at an event in Billings, Montana.

"You have to ask yourself who is the stronger candidate?" she continued. "And based on every analysis of every bit of research and every poll that’s been taken and every state that a democrat has to win, I am the stronger candidate against John McCain in the fall."

It was not immediately clear which polls and states Clinton was specifically referencing.

Recent polls out of the crucial swing states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida have indicated she has a better chance of beating McCain in those places than Barack Obama. But the Illinois senator performs better is several other swing states that Democrats have historically had difficulty winning, such as New Mexico, Nevada, and Colorado.

Obama picked up several of Edwards' delegates Thursday.

(CNN) – At least six of John Edwards' pledged delegates in South Carolina will throw their support to Barack Obama following Edwards’ endorsement of the Democratic frontrunner, bringing the total number of delegates switching to Obama on Thursday to eight.

One Edwards delegate from Iowa, Machelle Crum, came out for Obama on Thursday morning, as did New Hampshire delegate Joshua Denton. Crum made the decision after receiving a phone call from Edwards supporters encouraging her to make the switch.

In South Carolina, Daniel Boan, Christine Brennan-Bond, Robert Groce, Susan Smith, Mike Evatt and Lauren Bilton — all elected as pledged delegates for Edwards following his third place finish in the primary there on January 29 — announced Thursday they will follow Edwards’ lead and pledge their support to Obama at the Democratic National Convention in August.

John Moylan, the Columbia attorney who directed Edwards’ campaign in the state and is now serving as an alternate delegate for Edwards, appeared on CNN’s “American Morning” Thursday. He stated his support for Obama and hinted that more members of the Edwards delegation would follow later in the day.

“I didn't reach all eight of them, but I can tell you that at least six of the eight are prepared to endorse Senator Obama,” Moylan said this morning.

Read the rest of this entry »

Schuler is a first term Democrat.

WASHINGTON (CNN) –- Former President Bill Clinton will attend Sunday church services with North Carolina Congressman and uncommitted Democratic superdelegate Heath Shuler in his district, CNN has learned.

Shuler, a freshman congressman, is expected to announce Monday that he will pledge his support to whichever Democratic candidate wins his district in Tuesday’s primary.

The former NFL quarterback represents North Carolina’s 11th congressional district, which encompasses Asheville and the rural areas west to the border with Tennessee.

Given the demographics of Shuler’s district, Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) is predicted to win there on Tuesday. Shuler was heavily courted by President Clinton over the last several weeks. He also attended a meet and greet session at the Clintons’ Washington home earlier this spring.

Clinton worked to energize a group of supporters in Indiana Wednesday.

INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana (CNN) - Looking to capitalize on the momentum out of her Pennsylvania primary victory, Hillary Clinton made a quick trip here to energize supporters and plant the flag as her campaign looks to what could be a tight primary contest on May 6.

"The voters of Pennsylvania decided by an overwhelming majority they could count on me to deliver for them. They could count on me to make the tough decisions that will be presented to the next president," Clinton told an outdoor rally in downtown Indianapolis. "We can do it, we can do it."

Clinton told assembled supporters and onlookers that after her Pennsylvania win she now leads in the popular vote tally, something the Obama campaign disputes because Clinton's assertion assumes the vote tallies from Florida and Michigan are included. The Democratic National Committee continues to grapple with the dilemma of whether or not the delegates from those two states will be seated at the party's summer convention.

"It's a very close race but if you count as i count the 2.3 million people who voted in Michigan and Florida then we are going to build on that," she said.

Read the rest of this entry »