Tom Edsall writes that Clinton has asked her top supporters to attend her campaign tomorrow night, indicating that she will announce a suspension of her campaign:
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.
Staffers are being told to turn in final expense reports:
Clinton Campaign staffers and former campaign staffers are being urged by the Clinton campaign's finance department to turn in their outstanding expense receipts by the end of the week. That's a sign, to them, that the campaign wants to get its affairs in order soon. If Clinton were staying in the race, there'd be no real reason to collect these receipts now; she'd still be raising and spending money from the same primary campaign account.
Further, she has no scheduled appearances after a Wednesday speech, and staffers have been put on hold:
ABC News' Kate Snow Reports: For those reading the tea leaves, there are strong signs the Clinton campaign may be preparing for the end.
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.
And she hasn't gone negative on Obama in paid media since May 6th:
As best as I can determine, Hillary has launched no negative ads or mailers mentioning Obama since the North Carolina and Indiana results rendered the race more or less a foregone conclusion, though there have been spots drawing an implicit contrast with her rival.
Sure looks like it is over. Really, it is not that surprising. It makes perfect sense for Clinton to want to campaign everywhere and wait for the RBC decision, both because the campaign was still relatively close and to honor her supporters in all fifty states. Also, the nomination campaign has been a positive for Democrats wherever it has gone. However, it has also always been extremely difficult to figure out what Clinton would do after June 3rd. Other than Michigan and Florida, she hasn't visited a non-primary swing state since February, and after June 3rd there will be no more primary states left. Further, unless her fundraising would dramatically turn around, her mounting debts would make it impossible to start a general election campaign at this point, too.
So, hopefully we are coming to the desired end of the campaign either tomorrow night, or on Wednesday. That works for me. This primary campaign has been the best party building activity we have seen for decades, but that positive function will no longer be possible after the voting is over tomorrow. It has been a helluva ride, but it seems that we are finally moving on to the general election.
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