I have it from a prominent Florida Democrat that Hillary Clinton's staffers have been told that Friday will be their last day on the job. My source heard it first hand from a senior Hil staffer Washington/Arlington. Hillary may talk a good game through Tuesday, but according to this source, it truly will be just talk at that point. She's ending her campaign at the end of the week. This confirms similar reporting from Politico's Ben Smith:
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. My source also indicated that Camp Clinton appears eager to begin healing some of the racial wounds from the bruising primary campaign. We'll see how that works out ...
Meanwhile, this morning, I got a first-hand peek at an ad soon to be run by a major Hillary superdelegate in Congress. The ad features a center graphic that looks curiously like the red and white striped Obama "O", and which exhorts Democrats to "take back the white house and the state house." The member of Congress, a CBCer who's up for re-election, hasn't spoken about the campaign in months, but has been very close to Bill Clinton. Now, it seems, it's everybody on board for Barack.
Update: Clinton spokesman Mo Eleithee says the story is not true. He elaborated further with Ben Smith, saying the staff simply has no schedule past next Tuesday. That either means the campaign won't fold on Friday, or the Clinton campaign is not prepared to say that it will.
| Labels: 2008 election, Hillary Clinton, presidential candidates |
