This just in from AFP:
April 1, 2008 Washington, D. C. Senator Clinton is set to suspend her campaign tomorrow morning, according to senior campaign advisers.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, two prominent campaign officials stated today that Senator Clinton, after consultations with officials at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and other party leaders, has agreed to suspend her campaign in exchange for an agreement to seat both the Michigan and Florida delegations, whose primaries were held in violation of party rules.
Senator Clinton has made it a point to state recently her strong desire to seat these delegations, both of which awarded her the lion’s share of the delegates at stake. Senator Obama’s campaign has consistently maintained that it agrees with the sanctions imposed by the DNC which stripped both Michigan and Florida of their delegates.
It is believed that Clinton’s proposal to suspend her campaign was accepted by Senator Obama’s campaign late last night, according to a sources at the DNC, who spoke on condition that their identities not be disclosed, as they were not authorized to discuss the matter on the record. No one contacted within Senator Obama’s campaign would comment with regard to whether he had agreed to such a proposal from the Clinton camp. […]
“She really had no viable option at this point in light of her funding problems,” said one her chief advisers. “This allows her to preserve her viability as a candidate and to claim that she won a victory by getting the Michigan and Florida delegations seated.”
Although Senator Clinton will attend no further campaign events or fundraisers, and will shut down all campaign operations, including television advertising, in the remaining primary states, she will continue to remain on the ballot in each of those states. […]
In addition, “The suspension of her campaign is not binding on any of her supporters not officially associated with the campaign, who may continue to speak on her behalf, or carry on other activities in support of her candidacy, should they wish to do so,” said another Clinton advisor.
It is also not clear at this point whether her husband, former President Bill Clinton, or her daughter, Chelsea, has agreed to withdraw from making any further public appearances on her behalf.
If true, this is quite a significant development. Obviously Clinton’s funding issues were more precarious than anyone had previously reported. Definitely good news for Democrats today, however. Unless Clinton’s surrogates continue their negative campaign against Obama with her tacit agreement, this should wrap up the nomination for Obama. And I can’t see him agreeing to any deal to seat the Michigan and Florida delegations unless he had assurances that such would be the case.
So, thank you Senator Clinton for finally seeing the handwriting on the wall. Of course, I have to wonder if some secret arrangement has also been reached regarding a possible Cabinet appointment in any Obama administration or even a place on the ticket. We’ll just have to wait and see, but I suspect she will be getting something else in exchange for her stepping down at this time. What that might be is anybody’s guess.
I don’t trust her word even in apparent defeat. Doesn’t that say something?
I say we take a page out of Bush’s playbook and just insist that this is true over and over and over again until everyone grows tired of contradicting us.
That’s a pretty good idea!
Does AFP stand for April Fool’s, People?
Lol!
It’s April Fool’s day? I hadn’t realized.
I caught on when the link didn’t work the first time. Oh if only this were true.
It’s actually pretty easy to make a comment link to itself. Easy, and rather pointless. 🙂
AFP stands for Agence France-Presse, a global news agency similar to the Associated Press or AP.
It was April Fool’s Politics.
Yeah, I got that after trying the AFP link. Very funny Booman, damn you! 🙂
yeah, that’s my vote.
I’ve almost given up on reading blogs today… just about every other diary is literally a joke.
If I suspend my disbelief any further, I might be qualified to vote Republican!
(and I haven’t come up with a good joke to pull on my boss yet…. drat!)
n/t
I’ve never had my hopes raised then dashed so quickly. sigh…
that’s cold steven
fool me once…er…um…can’t get fooled again
Darn, I was hoping this was true and not an April Fool’s People joke!
Well who knows? Wait until tomorrow. 😉
You evil bastard you. 🙂
Not nice, I just sprayed coffee on my monitor.
Here’s something that’s apparently true from the portion of our Missouri delegation that supports Hillary.
I’d been wondering what the deal was with Cleaver. Looks like he’s trying to transition …
I’d be really, really wary of posting anything that appears to make sense today for fear of having it be met with “Yeah, right.”
OTOH this guy sounds like he’s speaking his mind and making sense.
April Fool’s? Say it isn’t so.
Too bad. Now I have to go back to the mountains of work on my desk, the chilly, rainy day outside and my bad mood. Crap.
Damn it Steven, don’t do that to me!!!
Always remember and never forget.
There is Karma, my friend. There is Karma.
Paybacks are hell.
I can’t believe I actually was trying to check this out. Damn. April 1. If only it were true…
Well, this site nearly lost a reader/commenter-me-and we’re all still stuck with Clinton. So what was the purpose? A laugh? Guffaw, guffaw.
It’s as Digby said, this primary is like being stuck in the seventh grade forever (something like that).
Stuff like this has been going on since before there were blogs. For instance in 1957 the BBC showed a documentary about the spaghetti harvest in Italy. (The link is for real, and the story actually happened, lest you think I’m trying to pull your leg.) April Fools Day stories are just one of those bizarre Internet traditions, like LOLcats or allowing Rob Enderle to post as if he knew what he was talking about.
And in fairness I should note that, in typical dry British fashion, at least one commentator on the BBC’s site stated that “not everyone was amused” by the spaghetti documentary.
Steven D
Of course, I have to wonder if some secret arrangement has also been reached regarding a possible Cabinet appointment in any Obama administration or even a place on the ticket. We’ll just have to wait and see, but I suspect she will be getting something else in exchange for her stepping down at this time. What that might be is anybody’s guess.
Steven, you haven’t heard?!
After agreeing to suspend her campaign, Clinton reached an agreement with McCain to run on the GOP ticket as VP.
A Clinton spokesperson, claiming annonimity today, said that the campaign intended to take legal action against a certain Steven D who posts on the blog ‘Booman Tribune’. Speaking from Gadsville, PA she said that his blog today went outside of what was acceptable during a closely fought campaign.
Papers, she claimed, had been deposited with the Federal Court in Jackson Mississippi.
Steven D was unavailable for comment.
Keith Kenneth Kingdom
Jackson Herald and Bugle
Oh my, Hell really has frozen over.
Nicely played. I had just about come around to it when I started reading the comments… It has just enough air of reality to be believable given it’s something I really want to believe….
There’s a diary at the orange place that claims that Hillary Will Be McCain’s Veep. The comments demonstrate that Kossaks don’t have much of a sense of humor.
I don’t know if this is an April Fools, but I sure hope it is.
http://alittlereality.blogspot.com/2008/04/shocking-newshillary-will-be-mccains.html
they’ve already got the campaign visuals put together:
clik image to enlarge
You know, any other day of the year, I would have looked at that headline and my first immediate thought would have been something other than “Yea, pull the other one, for verily, it hath been festooned with bells.”
So instead I’ll just put up a link (warning: it goes to Big Orange, although a kinder, gentler, pre-piefight Big Orange) to a story I posted exactly three years ago today under my previous handle.
Heh, I didn’t know that was you. Or you was he.
Yeah, that’s what the OMIR actually stands for — Our Man In Redmond. In fact I think on this site Our Man In Redmond’s sig still says “Our Man In Redmond is now Omir the Storyteller.”
Yeah, right, she’s quitting and I weigh the same as I did in high school.
Coudal, a prominent Illinois design firm, breaks down the logic of Hillary’s campaign: http://coudal.com/logic.php.
Those are great!