Clinton Seeks To Cash In On "Drop Out" Talk

Washington Post:

There's a silver lining in every dark cloud, or at least that's the approach Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign is taking when it comes to recent comments made by surrogates for Barack Obama that Clinton should drop from the Democratic presidential race.

Just hours after Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) told Vermont Public Radio that there was "no way" Clinton could win enough delegates to claim the nomination and, therefore, "she ought to withdraw and she ought to be backing Senator Obama," an e-mail entitled "The Pattern" arrived in The Fix's inbox.

"Have you noticed the pattern?" Clinton asks in the message, adding: "Every time our campaign demonstrates its strength and resilience, people start to suggest we should end our pursuit of the Democratic nomination.

"Those anxious to force us to the sidelines aren't doing it because they think we're going to lose the upcoming primaries. The fact is, they're reading the same polls we are, and they know we are in a position to win."

Keep reading.

Read the whole story: Washington Post

Comments

[Schnitzel]

I guess since the Clintons are freeloading on their bills they need to cash in on something.

[Gmoney1]

How can Hillary talk about asking working class people to send money to her campaign when she does not have the numbers to win - as opposed to any economic plan, she needs to show those working class people who can't afford to keep sending her their hard earned monies how it is that she will be able to win despite the numbers that she does not have - she is at a deficit with her campaign finances - she claims she is the best candidate to deal with the economy yet she can't even manage her campaign finances - is her campaign money going towards drudging up silly stuff against Obama -

[Dyogenes]

Fighting on in new states is her only hope of raising the contributions needed to pay her debts, including her personal loan of $5 million Plus debts to mark Penn of 2-3 Million. She has maxed out with her "old reliable" base of large donors in big states, and must re-coop her losses from new donors. Resurrecting her childhood "Fighter" personna and pushing back against the calls for her withdrawal are helping her raise the much needed money--but , at the same time, raising her negatives and shortening the path to her ultimate demise.

Seeing how she has run her campaign from Inevitability to Busted --what a terrible strategist (focusing on popular votes/Big states/electoral votes/etc when the DNC rules clearly identify Pledged Delegates as the coin of the realm) as well as poor executive functioning-- it's better that we know now about these deficiences and not after she wins the nom or the White House, as was the case with GWB. She is a relentless, scrappy fighter and a brilliant political tactician, but she is clearly not the leader that the US needs today.

[anney]

Dyogenes

Since she has $16M available for the primary season, plus whatever she can collect by the end of today (it's at about $2.2M so far), and she owes $8.7M in unpaid debts as well as the $5M she borrowed from herself, she realistically has only about $5M on hand for the rest of the primary season right now. (She just cannot leave those vendors hanging unpaid without terrible damage to her campaign.) So Hillary has to do a LOT more fundraising to come out even, much less ahead of the game. Campaigns are EXPENSIVE. I suspect some savvy vendors who can't afford to work for free are going to sign on only if they get their money upfront from now on.

I had to laugh at her statement, "Every time our campaign demonstrates its strength and resilience, people start to suggest we should end our pursuit of the Democratic nomination­." But that dog don't bite, of course. The suggestions are made as she continues to spiral yelling and screaming toward the bottom.

But I have no problem with her remaining in the primary race until June. I'm not one of her vendors, nor would I be, so I have no personal stake. I do know that the race MUST be perceived as being a fair race by both sides if this conflict-ridden primary is to be left behind when the real contest begins with McCain. That's what matters.

[anney]

Yikes!! Correction on her finances. She's worse off than I described.

From Politico:

=====

The New York senator’s presidential campaign ended February with $33 million in the bank, according to a report filed last week with the Federal Election Commission, but only $11 million of that can be spent on her battle with Obama.

If she had paid off the $8.7 million in unpaid bills she reported as debt and had not loaned her campaign $5 million, she would have been nearly $3 million in the red at the end of February.

=====

If she had paid off her debts, she'd be $3M in DEBT. This morning her website is announcing that they raised their $3M goal: http://www.hillaryclinton.com/?splash=1

Now, the campaign is even, and she has no operating expenses if she pays off her debts.

[Kim445588]

Sending her money at this point is like joining Amway.

[Independent voter]

Oh poor me.... The nasty boys are telling me to quit.... Quick send money so I can fight for you....


What a load!

[Bummer]

Hillary Rodham Clinton’s cash-strapped presidential campaign has been putting off paying hundreds of bills for months — freeing up cash for critical media buys but also earning the campaign a reputation as something of a deadbeat in some small-business circles.

A pair of Ohio companies owed more than $25,000 by Clinton for staging events for her campaign are warning others in the tight-knit event production community — and anyone else who will listen — to get their cash upfront when doing business with her. Her campaign, say representatives of the two companies, has stopped returning phone calls and e-mails seeking payment of outstanding invoices. One even got no response from a certified letter.

[bailey2006]

It seems like the only way I can get a comment on the boards is if I go negative and attack. Such a shame.

[oshpd1]

Yup it now is time for POOR ME from Hillary. I am being picked on because I am a woman. Don't be fooled. She should get out of public life. She is a disgrace to real Americans. Most Americans I know do not lie, cheat or steal. I am proud I do not know Hillary Clinton or Bill for that matter.

[Kim445588]

As bad as the economic condition and near future forecasts predict it will continue to be, it is amazing that folks are willing to throw good money after bad.

If I were a vendor, I'd have to get cash up front.

[fourex]

Even the Right Wing NewsMax sees Bill and Hillary supporting Republican McCain.

"What are the Clintons doing continuing to promote McCain's candidacy? It's getting to the point that Bill is coming close to pulling a Lieberman in terms of undercutting the Democratic Party in the 2008 election. He's trying to diss Obama and promote McCain at the same time.
To what end?
Whatever it is, it's not putting the Democratic Party and the country first. It's the Clintons hedging their bets at the expense of the Dems.
There's a point at which Senator Hillary Clinton supporters have to decide whether they are members of the Democratic Party or of the Clinton Party.
And we passed that point a long time ago."

[IslandGyal]

I wish the PA voters would just send Hillary Clinton a message, that American public, by and large is fed-up of her tactics and threats, that their message is that she's done! Please PA, don't be FL and now a MI, tell Hillary, literally, where to get off.

[unsolved999]

Hillary would do well to pay her bills first before she starts asking for more donations. It sounds like she is upside down on her own campaign. I'm sure the first thing she will do as president would be a mortgage bailout to herself.

[bailey2006]

Testing, testing testing

[bailey2006]

Whatsup dudes? What have I done to offend you?

[jcandrsn]

Hopefully she'll drop out because of all the "cash" talk. Edwards vowed to go to the convention too. Then he ran out of money. Here's hoping the same thing happens to HIllary.

[rojo7449]

Edwards dropped out because he could see he wasn't going to get the votes, and his delegate count barely got into double digits. The money was not 1st on his list of reasons.

[Tumult]

She needs any hook she can get to draw people in, The fake experience, and accomplishment hasn't worked for her. She is down to gender, race, and name. And the new imagined "toughness". Funny the Clinton's wern't tough on policy, regulation or the Iraq war. More than happy to cave when all those issues came up, but when it comes to destroying the Democratic party they are fighters. And here is a suggestion for Hillary on how to do better on the campaign trail, quarantine Bill, Hillary and their entire circle from contact with anyone and let Chelsea run the rest of your campaign. Because when Chelsea talks I am convinced she is talking about someone I could vote for, but then I see one of the message from the rest of the Clinton camp and I know I could never vote for Hillary.

[ritenow]

Have you noticed - every time it's clear that Clinton can't win she goes into victimhood?

Remember her comment about how all the media just adored Obama. Well, if she had won 12 primaries in a row - they would have been covering her like they covered him.