UPDATED
MSNBC just cited an AP report that Hillary Clinton is prepared tonight to "admit" that Barack Obama has won the Democratic Party nomination for president.
I found this AP report at USAToday.com:
Hillary Rodham Clinton appears ready to cede a bitter Democratic nomination battle to rival Barack Obama, with her campaign manager saying once her rival secures the necessary number of convention delegates, she will likely "call him the nominee."She will "call him the nominee." Sends shivers up the spine, doesn't it? That's what I call unity. GO TEAM!
The comment by Terry McAuliffe offers the strongest indication yet that the former first lady may be ready to bow out of a grueling primary battle that has entered its final stage with primaries Tuesday in South Dakota and Montana.
McAuliffe said Tuesday on NBC television's Today show that he thinks Clinton will "congratulate (Obama) and call him the nominee" once he reaches the 2,118 delegates needed to win the nomination. But McAuliffe says that "we haven't gotten to that number yet."
Still, I guess admitting that he beat her is better than insisting that he didn't.
UPDATE
Some pushback from Team HRC, just to make sure that nobody confuses "calling" Obama the nominee with conceding the race to him.
Hillary Clinton will say on Tuesday night that her rival Barack Obama has enough delegates to secure the U.S. Democratic Party presidential nomination, the Associated Press reported, but the Clinton campaign said that she would not concede the nomination on Tuesday.Thanks for clearing that up.
The AP said Clinton, who is trailing Obama in the five-month state-by-state nominating contest, will stop short of formally suspending or ending her White House bid, AP said, quoting two senior campaign officials.
Clinton's campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe said the New York senator was "absolutely not" conceding the campaign and said the AP report was incorrect.
