Clinton to fold White House bid tomorrow
AMERICA: Hillary Clinton will abandon her White House bid
tomorrow and throw her support to Democratic rival Barack Obama, her
campaign said, after she bid an emotional farewell to her loyal staff.
The announcement came a day after Obama secured enough delegates to
clinch the Democratic nomination and as the party coalesced behind the
Illinois senator to take the fight to Republican John McCain in
November's election.
Clinton had refused to concede Tuesday, saying she would deliberate
in the coming days, but the brief message from her team had an air of
finality about her doomed bid to become the first female president.
"Senator Clinton will be hosting an event in Washington ... to thank
her supporters and express her support for Senator Obama and party
unity," the New York senator's campaign said in a statement.
Obama responded to the news in a brief remark to a pool reporter,
saying: "Truth is, I haven't had time to think about it. This weekend,
I'm going home, talk it over with Michele and we're going on a date."
US media earlier reported Clinton would bow out Friday at the urging
of Democratic members of Congress, but her campaign said she would hold
an event Saturday instead to allow more of her supporters to attend.
Clinton visited her campaign headquarters in Arlington, in
Washington's Virginia suburbs, on Wednesday to inform most of the staff
that they would no longer be required after Friday, ABC News said.
Junior staffers were said to be emotional and some were crying at the
final confirmation that their 16 months of hard graft had come to
naught.
Clinton would be bowing to the reality that after the final primaries
were held in Montana and South Dakota on Tuesday, Obama is the
Democratic Party's heir apparent for November's election against McCain.
However, in refusing to concede immediately, she kept her options
open, and Clinton surrogates spent Wednesday talking up her credentials
to be Obama's nominee for vice-president.
Washington, Thursday, AFP |
