I've been thinking about tonight. One thing that struck me in Clinton's speech was how much of it was spent focusing on her, the issues she fought for, and the people who voted for her, whom she stated wanted their voices to be heard, and so forth.

Given that, there was very little mention of Obama (she mentioned him at the start), and, if I recall correctly, almost none of McCain. In other words, she didn't acknowledge Obama as the D nominee, nor John McCain as the R nominee. There was very little mention of the fact that the primaries had ended, and the general election would follow; that she and her supporters (not to mention the country) would soon have to choose between Barack Obama and John McCain. She /did/ emphasize her strengths as a candidate, the number of people who voted for her, and the issues she deemed important and defining of her as a candidate in the race.

Now, this isn't a criticism (or perhaps it is, but that's not my focus yet), but it did perhaps illustrate her strategy for the VP slot, presuming it's what she's campaigning for.

The way I see it, there were two ways she could have gone tonight. At least two. Let's stick with two.

1. Focus on her strengths as a candidate and the people who voted for her, tacitly implying those behind her would support her in whatever she chose to do, and that there were lots of them.

2. Focus on Obama as the nominee and McCain as the enemy, illustrating the differences between both candidates and the urgent need to elect the former, and not the latter, while pledging her support in the upcoming battle and calling for cohesion among her supporters and Obama's.

Being a supporter of Obama, I'd have preferred for her to do the second. But being an analyst of her VP prospects, it seems she clearly chose the first option, which meant she judged that as the option more likely to win her the VP slot.

In other words, she chose to project herself as someone with a huge fan club (half of the Democratic party), whose conditional support could be guaranteed with her positioning in the Vice Presidency. The alternative would have been to present herself as a loyal attack dog and unity-builder who would simultaneously defend Obama and strike McCain from here to November if her conditions (the Vice Presidency) were met.

Time will tell if her choosing the first strategy over the second pays off. This, of course, is merely one way of analyzing her speech tonight under the assumption of her desiring the Vice Presidency. I'd be curious to hear your thoughts. It's not a pro-or-anti-Clinton diary as much as a discussion on how she could best achieve the VP, presuming an interest in it.

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Hillary Clinton has summoned top donors and backers to attend her speech tomorrow night in an unusual move that is being widely interpreted to mean she plans to suspend her campaign and endorse Barack Obama.

Could it be?

"This has never happened before," one donor said, referring to the personalized request by email to attend the event in New York Tuesday night.

This is the night when Obama's expected to hit the nomination threshold.

Earlier in the day it was reported that Clinton staffers were being urged by the campaign's finance department "to turn in their outstanding expense receipts by the end of the week," another sign that the run at the White House was nearing an end. In addition, Politico wrote that members of Clinton's advance staff had received calls and emails Sunday night, summoning them to New York City and telling them their roles on the campaign are ending.

What do y'all think?

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From an AP report:

Hillary Rodham Clinton says she expects her marathon Democratic race against Barack Obama to be resolved next week. In a conference call with Montana reporters, Clinton said Friday: "I think that after the final primaries, people are going to start making up their minds. I think that is the natural progression that one would expect."

And a little more...

Clinton says superdelegates will have to decide who is the stronger candidate in the fall.

Clinton said, "I think that people will have to ask themselves those questions, who would be the best president in terms of preparation and readiness and effectiveness, and who would be the stronger candidate."

So Clinton herself expects people to make up their minds when the final primaries are through. To wit, they end on Tuesday.

What do y'all think about this? Combined with Pelosi's comments earlier, could things finally be coming to a close next week?

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This is why Fox News needs to go. Or at least Liz Trotta. This morning, she went on Fox and...well, see below.

"and now we have what ... uh...some are reading as a suggestion that somebody knock off Osama ...uh..um..Obama [after being prompted by the FNC anchor]....well both if we could [laughing]"

hat tip to Lauren S on DK for the block quotation and YT link.

It is unacceptable to talk about presidential candidates this way. I'm not sure what the protocol is for the SS getting involved in threats against protected officials, but jokes like these have to be pushing the line. The more people say this sort of stuff and get away with it, the more likely they are to push boundaries and say even more extreme things.

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