By Michael H. Cottman
It was one of the most telling signs that Hillary Clinton's campaign for the White House is in trouble: She canceled all of her appearances on the televison talk show circuit Wednesday morning.
When is the last time Clinton refused an interview on national television? It appears that she didn't want to talk about Barack Obama's 14-point landslide victory in Tuesday's North Carolina primary; she didn't want to entertain questions about how she squeaked out a two-point win in Indiana; and perhaps she didn't want to discuss her second loan to her campaign - this time for $6 million.
A senior Democratic strategist familiar with the Clinton campaign’s plans, told me that shortly after the June 3 primaries, if a number of super delegates are switching their allegiance to Obama, then Clinton would probably cut her losses and drop out of the race.
After coming off the worst four weeks of the campaign, with the controversy of Rev. Jeremiah Wright dogging his trail, Obama is still standing and his road to the White House just got a lot shorter.
Obama has extended his lead in pledged delegates (1,842-1,646) and, most important, it gives him the leverage to ask uncommitted super delegates to get off the fence and join his campaign. He is only 185 delegates short of the 2,025 needed to secure the Democratic nomination and Clinton -- no matter what -- can't catch up.Â
This week, some Democrats are talking quietly about how to convince Clinton that her bid for president is probably over, to bow out gracefully, and throw her support to Obama.
"I'd like to be a fly on that wall," said one Washington insider who has known the Clintons for 20 years.
Meanwhile, the Obama campaign is turning up the heat.
On May 20th, the date of the Kentucky and Oregon primaries, David Plouffe, Obama's campaign manager, predicted that Obama will actually clinch a majority of pledged delegates.
"That will happen on May 20th," Plouffe told reporters. "We think that will be an incredibly important date in the campaign."
On the stump, Clinton is talking about being an agent for change, but she can't change the math. There are six primaries left and North Carolina and Indiana may have been Clinton's last chance to right her seemingly sinking ship.
Some Democrats have said for months that Clinton's game plan for winning now has less to do with courting black voters and more to do with reaching out to white, blue-collar workers and suburban residents. Her aides insist that Clinton is not writing off the African American vote.
Still, Clinton has vowed to press on and take her fight all the way to the Democratic National Convention in August.
The campaign added a Wednesday appearance in West Virginia to Clinton's schedule and her surrogates appeared on early morning television programs to say she was still in the race and urged super delegates not to bail on her.
"This candidacy and this campaign continues on," Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson said Wednesday on CNN.
As Clinton promises her supporters to compete fiercely in West Virginia next week and Kentucky and Oregon on May 20, some Democrats say privately that Clinton may now need something that was unthinkable a year ago: An exit plan.
