I'm on my way to work, so I don't have a lot of time, but I wanted to share a few nuggets I heard this morning. In the spirit of marital compromise, I suffered through Morning Joe with my husband today (thankfully, no Joe). As a reward for having to look at and listen to Pat Buchanan, I heard a few interesting tidbits from Andrea Mitchell.
Mika Brzezinski was again flogging/parsing John Edwards' appearance on the show last week, trying to decipher who he was supporting. This led to a discussion of the Democratic primary endgame with Mitchell.
I'll be looking for transcripts and/or video clips to back me up as the morning progresses. But here were the main points. According to Mitchell:
*Clinton is not negotiating debt relief. She and Pat Buchanan (again, why?) discussed how this would seem to be very tawdry and petty (unClintonian?) a thing to be haggling over at this point.
*Her exit may come as soon as this week, following a big win in West Virginia. UPDATE: Mitchell indicated that her supporters are urging this; it's not from Clinton directly.
I know that Andrea Mitchell has a direct line to the Clinton campaign, and, as such, could be considered a reliable source. On the other hand, after Hill (Obama's health care plan isn't Democratic) and Bill's (his supporters think they're better than you) weekend round of Obama-bashing and divisive campaigning, they don't appear to be in wind-down mode.
Here is what she was saying on the campaign trail yesterday:
http://blogs.abcnews.com/...
ABC News' Eloise Harper reports: Sen. Hillary Clinton spoke in Grafton, W.Va., on Mother’s Day with her daughter by her side. Clinton read a few messages from supporters who urged her to continue her bid for the presidency.
"'Keep strong,' she said. 'It's not over until the lady in the pantsuit says it is,'" Clinton said, reading what she said was her favorite message.
Is there anyone besides me who feel her entire campaign message seems to have devolved into 'I'm a woman, so vote for me, because moms make the best presidents, given that we're women and since I am a woman, my historic candidacy deserves your support. And did I mention that I'm a woman?'
Off to work I go.
UPDATE: Here's Halperin's take from The Page:
http://thepage.time.com/
On NBC’s "Today," Andrea Mitchell said Clinton has realized the math is not there for her. She wants to stay through the primaries, though growing numbers of her supporters want her out this week. As part of a deal to leave, Clinton will push for some of the Michigan/Florida delegates to be seated, Mitchell reported.
ABC’s "Good Morning America" said Clinton is especially sensitive to men pressuring her to quit the race, such as the Tennessee Rep. who
referenced "Fatal Attraction."
On MSNBC’s "Morning Joe," Gov. Rendell insisted Clinton should keep fighting. "Why would the person who’s winning drop out?" Said her "white Americans" comment was "unfortunately phrased."
OK, wait a minute, now. This has got to be new spin. Now Obama is losing???? Seriously???? I mean I enjoyed the creativity of say, trying to turn a delegate race into a popular vote race. Or, the sheer audacity of the Clinton campaign's decision to re-allocate MI and FL delegates to arrive at the new magic number of 2209. But if Clinton and her supporters now believe that she's actually winning the race, all I can say is...W.T.F????