The Associated Press is reporting that Hillary Clinton will concede tonight that Barack Obama has obtained enough delegates to become the Democratic Presidential Nominee:
Hillary Rodham Clinton will concede Tuesday night that Barack Obama has the delegates to secure the Democratic nomination, campaign officials said, effectively ending her bid to be the nation’s first female president.
The former first lady will stop short of formally suspending or ending her race in her speech in New York City. Obama is 40 delegates shy of clinching the nomination, but he is widely expected to make up the difference Tuesday with superdelegate support and votes in South Dakota and Montana. Once he reaches the magic number of 2,118, Clinton will acknowledge that he has secured the necessary delegates to be the nominee.
She will pledge to continue to speak out on issues like health care. But for all intents and purposes, the two senior officials said, the campaign is over.
Most campaign staff will be let go and will be paid through June 15, said the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to divulge her plans.
The advisers said Clinton has made a strategic decision to not formally end her campaign, giving her leverage to negotiate with Obama on various matters including a possible vice presidential nomination for her. She also wants to press him on issues he should focus on in the fall, such as health care.
Why Obama will owe her anything after tonight, of course, is unclear. He won’t.
I may have to stay up late for this party.
Update: Terry McAuliffe is denying the Associated Press report:
WASHINGTON (CNN) — Sen. Hillary Clinton’s is “absolutely not” prepared to concede the race for the Democratic presidential nomination to Sen. Barack Obama, her campaign chairman said.
Terry McAuliffe rejected as “100 percent incorrect” an Associated Press report that Clinton is preparing to acknowledge that Obama has the delegates to win the nomination Tuesday night as the five-month Democratic primary process comes to a close.
Obama “doesn’t have the numbers today, and until someone has the numbers the race goes on,” McAuliffe told CNN.
Of course, that leaves open the possibility that she will concede if Obama reaches 2.118 by the end of th night.
[...] Update: As much as I don’t want to get my hopes up until it’s official, it appears that it will be over tonight. [...]
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