Subject: Hillary For President News Briefing for Thursday, June 05, 2008
From: "Bulletin News Network" <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked]
Date: 5 Jun 2008 06:34:57 -0400

HILLARY FOR PRESIDENT NEWS BRIEFING (Executive Version)
Full version is attached and available online at http://www.bulletinnews.com/clinton

TO: CLINTON CAMPAIGN

DATE: THURSDAY, JUNE 5, 2008 6:30 AM EDT

TODAY'S TABLE OF CONTENTS

SEN. CLINTON'S CAMPAIGN:

+ Clinton To Exit Race On Saturday.

+ Clinton Effort To Secure VP Nomination Faces Barriers.

+ Clinton May Soon Return To Senate Job On "Full-Time Basis."

+ Clinton Reliance On Superdelegate Endorsements Proved Unwise.

+ Clinton's Campaign Debts Loom.

Sen. Clinton's Campaign:

CLINTON TO EXIT RACE ON SATURDAY. In a development first reported by ABC News, Hillary Clinton will exit the presidential race on Saturday, although initial reports suggested the event would be Friday. The precise nature of Clinton's departure from the contest – whether it would be unconditional or a "suspension" – remains unclear. The announcement came after negative Democratic reaction to Clinton's Tuesday night speech, which was viewed as defiant and challenging. ABC World News (6/4, story 2, 3:15, Snow, 8.78M) reported, "ABC News has just learned that Hillary Clinton will hold an event on Friday surrounded, flanked by supporters, congressional supporters, in which we believe, all indications are, she will concede this race once and for all." Pressure is "mounting on Clinton to concede, especially from her supporters in Congress who went out on a limb for her, and are anxiously waiting to endorse Barack Obama." Rep. Charles Rangel: "Unless she has some good reasons which I can't think of, I really think we ought to get on with endorsements and dealing with what we have do deal with."

CNN's The Situation Room (6/4, Crowley) reported, "Hillary Clinton is getting there, not quite out of the race, not quite in it. And despite punditry criticism that she did not get more out of this race last night, Barack Obama will not crowd her." They have "spoken briefly already. A longer conversation may happen this week, just before a Clinton speech also likely this week. They are trying to figure out the when and the where, but the what is a given." Gov. Ed Rendell: "I think, very soon, she's going to do the right thing and get behind the party, get behind Senator Obama. Whether she's vice president or not, she's going to work very hard for this ticket."

The New York Times (6/5, A1, Nagourney, Zeleny, 1.18M) reports in a front page story that Clinton's "decision came after Democrats urged her Wednesday to leave the race and allow the party to coalesce around Mr. Obama." Clinton strategist Howard Wolfson "and other aides said she would express support for Mr. Obama and party unity at an event in Washington that day. One adviser said Mrs. Clinton would concede defeat, congratulate Mr. Obama and proclaim him the party's nominee, while pledging to do what was needed to assure his victory in November." Rep. Charles Rangel said, "We pledged to support her to the end. Our problem is not being able to determine when the hell the end is." Clinton's decision "came as some of her most prominent supporters - including former Vice President Walter F. Mondale - announced they were now backing Mr. Obama."

The Washington Post (6/5, A1, Weisman, Balz, 723K) reports in a front page story that Clinton is "likely to suspend her presidential campaign on Saturday and endorse Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee, according to informed sources, after a day in which many of her key supporters and party leaders encouraged the senator from New York to make a quick decision in the interest of party unity." The decision "came hours after the launch of an aggressive campaign by some of Clinton's supporters to encourage Obama to pick her as his running mate had further stoked tensions with backers of the senator from Illinois."

USA Today (6/5, Lawrence, 2.28M) reports, "In the end, it took less than 24 hours for Hillary Rodham Clinton to adapt to her party's new political order." The news "came after a day of hand-wringing and tea-leaf reading over Clinton's failure to concede the race to Obama on Tuesday night, after he had surpassed the 2,118 party delegates needed to clinch the nomination." As the pair "made back-to-back speeches Wednesday to an important group in presidential politics, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, it seemed like just another day on the campaign trail. But the primary season is over - and not a minute too soon for some Democrats."

CLINTON EFFORT TO SECURE VP NOMINATION FACES BARRIERS. Hillary Clinton and her supporters began a public effort to win the vice presidential nomination, but media reports suggest the aggressive effort could backfire on the Democratic runner-up. The campaign was seen by some observers as bullying and a challenge to Obama's leadership, which could hurt Clinton's eventual chances. The Wall Street Journal (6/4, A1, Calmes, 2.06M) reports in a front page story that "close supporters suggested" Hillary Clinton "would like to be" Obama's "running mate, on a unity ticket. But close advisers to Sen. Obama signaled an Obama-Clinton ticket was highly unlikely. People in both camps cited what several called 'a deal-breaker' -- Bill Clinton may balk at releasing records of his business dealings and big donors to his presidential library." A day "after his history-making declaration that he had enough delegates to be the nominee, Sen. Obama on Wednesday named a search team for a vice-presidential nominee. The first African-American nominee for a major party tapped two high-profile supporters -- Caroline Kennedy, daughter of the late President Kennedy, and Eric Holder, President Clinton's former deputy attorney general. They join Jim Johnson, a former Fannie Mae chairman, who had already been enlisted to lead the search and vet potential choices."

ABC World News (6/4, lead story, 3:10, Gibson, 8.78M) interviewed Obama. Asked if Hillary Clinton was a "special case that you have to deal with before" other potential running mates, Obama said, "I think Senator Clinton is a special case as a candidate. She's somebody who traveled this journey with me. She was extraordinarily capable and tenacious. Yes, she's a special case. I think it's very important for me to meet with her and talk to her about how we move this party forward."

NBC Nightly News (6/4, lead story, 7:00, Williams, 9.87M) interviewed Obama. Williams: "Specifically on this vice presidential issue, Maureen Dowd writes in 'The New York Times' this morning she has tried to emasculate you. In basketball terms, has she, at minimum, tried to jam you?" Obama: "We have just completed a very hard fought contest. I think she needs to catch her breath. I need to catch mine. I think all our supporters need to just sit back and let things sink in. We're going to go through a process in the vice presidential search where I look at a whole range of options. This is one of the most important decisions I can make and I think we'll signal how I want to operate my presidency."

The CBS Evening News (6/4, lead story, 4:20, Couric, 7.66M) reported, "In our latest poll, 59% of Democratic primary voters including 46% of your voters think you should select Senator Clinton to be your running mate. So in the spirit of Kennedy picking Johnson and Reagan choosing Bush, why not pick Senator Clinton? And please don't tell me it's premature to ask that question." Obama: "Well, it's not premature to ask. It's premature to answer because I literally got the nomination last night. ... The truth is we want to approach this selection process entirely. But it's going to be deliberate."

On NBC Nightly News (6/4, story 3, 1:55, Williams, 9.87M), Tim Russert said Obama's selection of a panel to weigh his vice presidential choice "puts the breaks on any immediate announcement or deal on the vice presidency. That means Hillary Clinton now has to make her decision over the next few days without any sense of whether or not she would be selected as Vice President. "

ABC World News (6/4, story 2, 3:15, Snow, 8.78M) reported, "Clinton supporter and BET founder Bob Johnson today wrote a letter asking the Congressional Black Caucus to urge Barack Obama to put Clinton on the ticket." Bob Johnson, BET founder: "We think our best chances of making sure Senator Obama is the historic president we all want is if you would add Senator Clinton to the ticket." Snow: "And there's a petition by former Bill Clinton aide, Lanny Davis, urging Obama to select Clinton as his Vice President. Bad idea, says Clinton supporter, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell. The winner gets to choose a vice president." Gov. Ed Rendell: "You don't bargain with the presidential nominee. Even if you're Hillary Clinton and you have 18 million votes, you don't bargain."

CLINTON MAY SOON RETURN TO SENATE JOB ON "FULL-TIME BASIS." USA Today /Gannett (6/5, Tumulty) reports, "After a seemingly endless campaign for the presidential nomination, Hillary Rodham Clinton could be returning to her day job as the junior senator from New York on a full-time basis very soon. Unless Barack Obama chooses her as his running mate, Clinton will find herself back in the Senate with some colleagues who know what it's like to have run and lost. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., returned to his job after being the Democratic nominee in 2004. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., failed to win the GOP nomination in 2000. Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., failed as a vice presidential candidate in 2000. And earlier this year, Sens. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and Joe Biden, D-Del., went back to the Senate after abandoning their presidential bids. ... Clinton's Senate colleagues say they expect a smooth transition, even though some senators backed Obama early in the race and more have endorsed the Illinois senator since he won the delegates needed for the nomination Tuesday. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota freshman and early Obama supporter, said Clinton still commands respect in the Senate. 'She is a leader here and she will continue to be a leader when she returns,' Klobuchar said."

CLINTON RELIANCE ON SUPERDELEGATE ENDORSEMENTS PROVED UNWISE. The New York Times (6/5, A1, Seelye, 1.18M) reports in a front page story that by "mid-March," Clinton's campaign "knew it had a problem with what it had once assumed was a reliable firewall - its support among superdelegates." The "commanding lead she had held in superdelegates at the start of the contests - she was about 100 ahead of Mr. Obama - had dwindled by mid-March, to 12. And superdelegates were showing an independence that the Clinton campaign had not counted on, not quite buying her argument that she was more electable than Mr. Obama." The Obama campaign "convinced many superdelegates that they should follow the voters' will in making their endorsements. To the puzzlement and increasing frustration of the Clinton camp, few flowed her way."

May 6 Seen As Beginning Of The End For Clinton Campaign. The Washington Post (6/5, A1, Kornblut, Balz, 723K) reports in a front page story that in a "campaign of near-deaths and premature obituaries, the night of May 6 will be remembered inside Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign as the moment it really ended." Whatever "slim hopes Clinton had for an improbable comeback died with the disappointing results in the last two big primaries of the campaign -- a narrower-than-hoped for victory in Indiana and a double-digit loss in North Carolina -- and the commentary that accompanied them. When NBC's Tim Russert flatly declared the Democratic race over around midnight, one adviser recalled, 'The air came out of the room.'" There was "a sense of resignation within the campaign. She would carry on, but the outcome was inevitable. 'She could accept losing,' one adviser said. 'She could not accept quitting.'"

CLINTON'S CAMPAIGN DEBTS LOOM. The New York Post (6/5, Earle, 648K) reports on Sen. Hillary Clinton's $11 million loan to her campaign, which she has under three months to recoup, suggesting that her campaign may be in debt to the tune of over $30 million, adding, "Clinton's mountain of debt has emerged as a major consideration now that Barack Obama has locked up the nomination. Even while she angles for a spot on the ticket and pet policy proposals, Clinton's own bank account is on the line. ... Some reports have speculated that the personal loan may be much higher than the $11 million reported." The Post notes that Obama could attempt to persuade his donors and other Democratic politicians to help Clinton, "[b]ut campaign experts doubt Obama will spend too much energy bailing out Clinton; he must fund his own campaign and close a $35 million fund-raising gap between the DNC and the Republicans."

Copyright 2008 by the Bulletin News Network, Inc. Reproduction without permission prohibited. Editorial content is drawn from thousands of newspapers, national magazines, national and local television programs, and radio broadcasts. The Hillary For President News Briefing is published five days a week by BulletinNews, which creates custom news briefings for government and corporate leaders. We can be found on the Web at BulletinNews.com, or called at (703) 483-6100.