Clinton Faces Financial Challenge as Pundits Wonder, What’s She Up To?
Hillary Clinton speaks to supporters at a rally Thursday in Sioux Falls, S.D. (AP Photo)
Even as she scraps for a new debate with Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton faces an increasingly tough challenge as she stares down the final nomination contests in the race to the White House: keeping the campaign engine fed with money.
Both Clinton and Obama are in Oregon on Friday, and then they part ways as Clinton heads to one of her last strongholds on the campaign trail, Kentucky. There she’ll try to stanch the outward cash flow at a Louisville fundraiser.
In stark contrast to her April 22 win in Pennsylvania, campaign officials have not been touting massive amounts of fundraising in the days following her near-loss to Obama in Indiana, the same day she suffered a decisive defeat in North Carolina.
Obama, who harnessed the power of Internet fundraising early in the campaign, getting huge numbers of supporters to donate small amounts, has consistently outspent Clinton in recent weeks. Yet Obama’s budget is in the black, while Clinton lent herself another $6.4 million in April, bringing the total out-of-pocket amount to about $11 million for the New York senator.
Clinton’s campaign assures that it continues to have a strong bid, aided by the fact that the states Clinton is focusing on — West Virginia and Kentucky — are far less expensive to wage a battle in than previous states.
Spokesman Jay Carson said the campaign won’t get into precise figures of upcoming expenditures, “But we will have the resources to be competitive and we’ll spend what we need to spend.”
Carson also said that Clinton has “already made her personal financial commitment to the campaign very clear and she has not ruled out giving more if necessary.”
There’s a possibility that might not be necessary. The New York Times reports that Clinton still is taking in cash: $1 million at a Wednesday fundraiser, another $200,000 expected on Saturday. But it pales compared to the $10 million brought in after Pennsylvania.
The Politico reports that another historic Clinton family stronghold — Hollywood — still is showing support for her. Half the tickets to a fundraiser set for next Thursday are sold so far.
Despite the bleak financial picture, Clinton appears on track to continue the fight through at least June 3, the date of the last two primary contests in Montana and South Dakota.
She highlighted her continued fight in Oregon Thursday, saying she’d debate Obama “anytime, anywhere. He’s going to be in Portland tomorrow. I’m going to be in Portland.”
And addressing nagging questions over whether she would drop out, Clinton put a definitive foot down.
“Of course I’m going to keep going. I’m going to keep going because you keep going,” Clinton told a Central Point, Ore., crowd, which responded with applause.
But with three new superdelegate endorsements Friday, Obama found himself just six superdelegates away from eclipsing Clinton’s lead in that category. Though Obama leads strong in pledged delegates, Clinton has kept her lead in superdelegates throughout the campaign. She needs to keep and expand that lead significantly to prevent Obama from clinching the nomination.
To What Purpose?
Many are wondering what Clinton hopes to accomplish with such a slim shot at being the Democratic nominee.
“It’s like a 100-yard touchdown pass. It really is,” Temple University professor Marc Lamont Hill said of Clinton’s chances.
Her supporters, and even her detractors, believe the New York senator still wants to win, but they recognize that she could be setting herself up for a plan B — either a vice presidential nod, a future run for the White House or at least elevated status and influence on Capitol Hill.
“Whatever her ultimate fate is, she has a central stake in the future of the party,” said Democratic pollster Doug Schoen. “Whether she’ll be on the national ticket, whether she’ll have … an enhanced role in the Senate, or whether she’ll have an ongoing and central voice (in the Democratic Party) remains unclear.”
Schoen said Clinton has every right to see the race to its June 3 finish, since she’s still pulling close to 50 percent of the popular vote. But he said the possibility of the so-called “dream ticket,” where Clinton and Obama would run as a team in November, should be on party elders’ minds.
“I think it’s something that everybody should consider as being in the best interest of the Democratic Party,” he said.
Even Bill Clinton adviser-turned-ABC correspondent George Stephanopoulos is promoting the idea.
“This is what some people close to the Clintons are talking about: Is there a way to negotiate a settlement with Barack Obama to have Senator Clinton on the ticket?” he said Wednesday. “I mean, first of all, would Senator Obama go for it? Can he get over the bitterness of this campaign? Can he be convinced that it’s the strongest ticket? Third, of course, would Senator Clinton take it? I think if it was offered in the right way, yes.”
But several strategists see it as a faint possibility, at best.
“I think that’s the least likely option,” Democratic strategist Kirsten Powers said.
Hill, the Temple professor, said the VP plan is an enduring theory, especially since Clinton is trumpeting her ability to win swing states. She potentially is positioning herself as a No. 2 who can carry Obama over the top in the fall.
But Hill, too, doubts that’s a real possibility: “The problem is, the more she beats up on him, the less likely she’ll be on the ticket.”
He said Clinton really wants to raise more money so she can end her campaign in the black, and he subscribes to a growing conspiracy theory that Clinton is setting herself up for a 2012 run.
In that scenario, Clinton beats up on Obama so bad during the rest of the primary that he’s weakened and loses to John McCain in November. Then, four years later, McCain faces a Democratic backlash. Enter Clinton.
“She thinks Barack can’t win, and then she’ll be the inevitable (nominee) in 2012,” Hill said. “She can say, ‘I told ya’ll to pick me, see what happens when you don’t.’ … I think that’s a strong possibility.”
Former Bill Clinton adviser and columnist Dick Morris also buys that scenario.
“She’s staying in because it’s a hunting license,” he said. “Between now and the day she pulls out, she can say anything nasty about Barack Obama that she wants and that’s her way of making sure John McCain wins the election … and the nomination for the Democrats in ‘12 will be wide open and Hillary will have a very good shot at it.”
However, for that scheme to work, Clinton would have to continue beating on Obama — and notably, since the North Carolina and Indiana primaries Tuesday, she’s been soft on the Democratic front-runner.
On the Clinton side of the fence, defeat is not an option that’s being discussed publicly.
Clinton supporter Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif, who on Wednesday seemed to question Clinton’s strategy, said Thursday she had talked to Clinton and she’s confident the former first lady is in the race for one thing, “to win.”
“I’m sticking with her, absolutely,” she said. “She feels intense support from her people. She is persevering. She is very collected. She is very determined. She is really together. And she’s going to make the decision if the time comes. She doesn’t believe it’s the time.”
Even though she lost the North Carolina primary Tuesday by double digits and just eked out a victory in Indiana, Clinton’s continuing to argue that she’s the best candidate to go against McCain in November.
“The delegate math might be complicated but the electoral math is easy,” she said Thursday in Charleston, W. Va. “We need 270 electoral votes to win in November. It’s something we have to have. … My campaign is winning swing states.”
Clinton bounced from West Virginia to South Dakota on Thursday and was headed next to Oregon. The Clinton campaign claims it raised $1 million in the 24 hours after the Indiana and North Carolina polls closed.
But in the face of such frenzied campaigning, Obama’s already putting less emphasis on his primary race and lowering expectations to a point where Clinton’s victories, in his playbook, would mean nothing.
“She is hugely favored in West Virginia and Kentucky and she will win those states,” Obama bluntly told reporters Thursday. “But we will probably win our share, so we will probably split the remaining contests.”
The latest delegate counts show Obama with 1,846 and Clinton with 1,696. A candidate needs 2,025 to win the Democratic nomination.
Obama picked up the support of at least two new superdelegates after making the rounds on Capitol Hill on Thursday.
Rep. Brad Miller of North Carolina and Rep. Rick Larsen of Washington announced their support for his presidential campaign.
FOX News’ Judson Berger, Trish Turner, Aaron Bruns and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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