It’s Over?

Ken AshfordElection 2008Leave a Comment

Looks like Hillary is going to throw in the towel tomorrow:

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.

But maybe not:

I’m not quite convinced that this is indicative of anything significant. With the last of the primaries wrapping up tomorrow, the Clinton campaign’s focus will shift to either a) ending the campaign and stepping aside; or b) investing time and resources in convincing Obama delegates to switch their commitments.

Given this, it stands to reason that Clinton will need a much smaller advance staff. Whether she’s in the race for three more days or three more months, these aren’t the kind of staffers she’ll need. Just because she’s scaling back in this department doesn’t necessarily point to a pending withdrawal.

My guess?  Probably just scaling back….

But still…. by most counts, Barack Obama is about 46 delegates shy of the threshold needed for the Democratic presidential nomination. After tomorrow’s contests in Montana and South Dakota, he’ll probably be around 20 or so delegates shy of the magic number. So, if 20 or so superdelegates endorse Obama once the final primaries are complete, he’ll have secured the party’s nomination and the fighting will finally be over. There won’t be any need to push the matter all the way to the convention; it’ll be over.