Clinton: No cause for alarm
WASHINGTON (CNN) – Hillary Clinton called for calm Wednesday evening following a narrow win in Indiana and a significant loss in North Carolina that increased Barack Obama’s delegate lead and raised questions about whether Clinton should drop out.
“There is no cause for alarm, sometimes you got to calm people down a little bit,” Clinton told thousands of cheering female supporters at a fundraiser in Washington called ‘Generations of Women for Hillary.’
“I understand that some people are getting a little nervous, and I have to say that there really is no cause for nervousness, because we will have a unified Democratic Party,” she said. “I will work my heart out for the nominee of our party and I believe that Sen. Obama will work as hard as he can for the nominee of our party.”
Clinton added that the differences between her and Obama are minimal compared to Democrats’ differences with McCain.
Flanked onstage by daughter Chelsea and mother Dorothy Rodham, Clinton told the crowd that too many people have fought to make history by nominating a woman to give up.
“Do you know difficult it is for women to stand up and say we are the best at anything?” Clinton asked. “The Democratic Party has to know that women are the core, women have to be at the table and women are going to be heard as we continue in these contests until they finally end.”
Clinton makes case at DNC
(CNN) - Hillary Clinton met with Democratic Party officials and undecided members of Congress Tuesday afternoon to make her case for the party's nomination and press for a resolution to seating the delegations of Florida and Michigan.
The meeting, which lasted approximately two hours, took place at the Democratic National Committee headquarters.
Clinton spoke briefly to cameras while departing the building, saying she had met with "members of Congress and others who have a role to play in this process."
She refused to say if she won any commitments from any undecided superdelegates.
It was not immediately clear with which members of Congress Clinton met.
Pelosi: The race is not over
WASHINGTON (CNN) - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, said Wednesday the Democratic presidential race is not over yet and that it is still possible for Senator Hillary Clinton to win.
“I think the race is alive and well and will continue,” Pelosi said during a news conference to promote Democratic energy proposals.
Pelosi, who has repeatedly said she remains neutral in the Democrats’ nomination battle, was asked whether Clinton's slim margin of victory in Indiana meant her campaign was finished.
"A win is a win. A win is a win. Let's just call it what it is," Pelosi said.
Obama fundraises off Clinton loan
(CNN) - Barack Obama’s cash-rich campaign has spent so much this primary cycle, rival Hillary Clinton has been forced to loan her own campaign millions of dollars. Now the Obama team is using Clinton’s loan - in an effort to raise even more money.
“We need to show that the voices of more than 1.5 million ordinary people donating whatever they can afford are more powerful than one person giving more than $11 million to their own campaign,” said campaign manager David Plouffe, in an e-mail sent to supporters Wednesday.
“Now is the time add your voice to our historic movement. Make a donation of $25 to match Senator Clinton's loan.”
Clinton supporter: Race causing 'negative dividends'
WASHINGTON (CNN) - The drawn out race for the Democratic presidential nomination producing “negative dividends in terms of strife within the party,” says a key Capitol Hill supporter of Sen. Hillary Clinton’s White House bid.
A day after the Indiana and North Carolina primaries bolstered Sen. Barack Obama’s candidacy, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, said she wants to talk to Clinton to “see what her view is on the rest of the race. What the strategy is.”
Feinstein, who described herself as “very loyal” to Clinton, said “the question comes whether she can get the delegates that she needs and I’d like to know what the strategy is to do that.”
Feinstein predicted her party will unify in order to defeat presumptive Republican nominee John McCain. But she said there is “an emotional component in all of this. Just as I feel loyal to Sen. Clinton others feel loyal to Sen. Obama and we’re in the same party and it makes it very difficult. So I think we want to minimize that as much as we can.”
Feinstein said she called Clinton two days ago, but said she hasn’t heard back from the New York senator yet.
Blitzer: What would you like me to ask Barack Obama?
(CNN) - I will be sitting down face-to-face Thursday in Washington with Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. It will be his first interview since his impressive primary victory over Hillary Clinton in North Carolina and his narrow defeat in Indiana.
It’s not every day that I have a chance to question him, so I will be carefully preparing the subjects I want to raise with him. I don't want to waste this opportunity.
That means I'll be asking him questions on the most important domestic and national security issues facing the American people.
My hope is that people who watch the interview will have a better understanding of this potential president - and where he stands on the key issues of the day. In other words, I hope people who see the interview will be able to say afterwards that they learned something they didn’t know about Senator Barack Obama.
So here’s where you come in. If you have any thoughts on possible questions, I would love to hear them. Let me know what's on your mind.
Thanks in advance. The interview, by the way, will air Thursday in The Situation Room. Our program airs from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Eastern time.
Send your video question to iReport.com
Ex-Clintonite makes press-release goof
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Old habits die hard, a long-time Hillary Clinton supporter proved this week when he sent out a press release from his new organization with press@hillaryclinton.com as the contact address.
Sam Arora, a Clinton aide for three years, made the goof Tuesday in a press release for VoteBoth, which is pressing for a ticket that would bring the two Democratic rivals together.
The release said "press@voteboth.com," but linked to the Clinton campaign's generic media e-mail address.
Arora said it was a simple mistake caused by his using an old Microsoft document to make the new one.
"I didn't realize that, when you do this in Microsoft Word, you have to look at what the html says," he said. "This was just me being technically unadvanced."
Collusion between VoteBoth and the Clinton campaign would be illegal, since VoteBoth filed with the Federal Election Commission as independent of any candidate or its committees.
Clinton vows to continue, presses new math
Clinton said Wednesday her campaign goes on. (AP Photo)
SHEPHERDSTOWN, West Virginia (CNN) - There may be new pressure on her to concede defeat in her quest for the White House, but Hillary Clinton had a familiar message Wednesday for Democrats calling on her to end her presidential bid: “I’m staying in this race until we have a nominee.”
Clinton told reporters she was not swayed by new exit polls that suggest the bitter primary battle may be dividing the party. “I just don’t believe that. I think we’ve had a historic record turnout by both of us bringing people into the Democratic Party,” said Clinton.
She stressed her continuing quest to make sure full delegations from Florida and Michigan were represented at the Democratic convention this summer. The party’s Rules and Bylaws Committee is meeting later this month to try to resolve the dilemma – but Clinton made it clear Wednesday that she didn’t think any ruling from that panel was necessarily the last word.
“Under the rules of the Democratic Party, the Rules and Bylaws Committee makes the first determination,” she said. “And if people are not satisfied with that, then people go to the credentials committee, so we’ll see what the outcome is.”
Asked if she would drop out once Obama reaches the 2,210-delegate mark, Clinton responded: “Well, I’m glad you used the figure 2,210, because I think that’s the right figure because that includes the seating of delegates from Michigan and Florida, something that I have said consistently… for months now, has to be resolved.
“….So 2,209 or 10 is the number, and at some point one of us will get there.”
McGovern to Clinton: Time to go
(CNN) - Former Sen. George McGovern urged Hillary Clinton Wednesday to drop out of the Democratic presidential race.
McGovern, who had endorsed Clinton, told CNN he was switching his support to endorse Barack Obama.
“It certainly was not out of any less respect for Senator Clinton,” McGovern told CNN in a telephone interview early Wednesday afternoon about his decision to switch his support to Barack Obama. “I think she has waged a really courageous and valiant campaign. She will have my affection and admiration for all of my days.
“But I think mathematically the race is all but won by Barack Obama and the time has come for all of us to unite and get ready for the general election in the fall.”
McGovern also told CNN he had just spoken to former President Bill Clinton about his decision to back Obama – a conversation he described as “very good.”
“I have had many conversations with him over the years, none better than today," McGovern said. "He did me the honor of talking to me about this. There will be no hard feelings with him or Senator Clinton.”
McGovern said he has not spoken to Sen. Clinton today, because he thought she would be too exhausted after Tuesday’s primary but plans to talk to her in the future.”
McGovern is not a Democratic superdelegate, though he is the first major Clinton supporter to publicly suggest the New York senator should abandon her presidential bid following Tuesday night's results.
Responding to the news, Clinton spokesman Mo Elleithee said "Senator Clinton appreciates Senator McGovern's friendship, but believes the voters in the upcoming states should have their voices heard in this process."
Cafferty: What will Clinton do now?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
"The campaign may go on but the contest is now over: Barack Obama is the Democratic nominee for president."
Democratic strategist Bob Shrum tells The New York Times that now the only decision left for Hillary Clinton is how she wants to end this.
New York Daily News columnist Michael Goodwin puts it this way: "Unless Obama falls off a cliff, or the Reverend Jeremiah Wright pushes him," he will be the nominee. Another paper calls Clinton "toast."
All this points to a pretty grim scenario for Hillary Clinton.
To read more and contribute to the Cafferty File discussion click here
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