Based on reporting out of the Clinton camp, I'm not sure the congratulations and calls for unity are appropriate. Obama may have the delegate math sewn up later tonight, but will that be enough to end the primary race?
From Politico.com
There are voices in her circle – including, by some insiders’ accounts – her husband, counseling her to fight on, and hoping for some new revelation that will unexpectedly damage Obama.
And Clinton’s apparent sense that her survival is itself a kind of victory has made the end harder for her and her tight inner circle to contemplate, aides and supporters said Monday. Though Senator Barack Obama appears likely to announce an absolute majority of superdelegates this week, and even as many of her staff and supporters quietly acknowledged that the end had come, Clinton and some around her appeared tempted to press on...
More after the jump.
These statements don't look like a campaign ready to accept defeat. Instead, it looks like they may be preparing for a new phase of the campaign - guerilla war. Again from Politico:
A Clinton fundraising aide, Rafi Jafri, circulated a draft of a letter for signature by members of her Illinois finance committee, with a stark message of no surrender:
"Senator Clinton is ahead in the popular vote, and neither candidate can secure the nomination with pledged delegates alone. The automatic delegates can change their mind up until their vote at the convention, and that is why this nominating process must be resolved in August, and no earlier," the draft letter said.
I fully expect the networks and pundits will declare the Clinton campaign officially DOA tonight (some have already done so). While this may deprive her of some earned media, it will also likely stoke the flames of resentment and victimization that were so publicly on display and the Rules and Bylaws meetings this last weekend.
If Clinton refuses to at least suspend her campaign, the danger is manifest. A low-grade warfare campaign, which refuses to acknowledge defeat or the end of the race, also refuses to allow the campaign's supporters any sort of closure. The cycle then begins to feed upon itself, as the candidate is marginalized, the resentments grow, which ultimately makes reconciliation more difficult.
I'm hoping Politico is wrong, and what we're seeing from the Clinton campaign is some off-message communications. But it may be entirely too early to extend the olive branch, much less pop champagne.