Will Hillary Campaign For Barack If He Gets The Nomination?

Hillary is determined to win the nomination. We all know that. In fact, her team held a day-long meeting with their key fundraisers in Washington yesterday which you can read about here.

Hillary spoke soon after noon to her top money people. "She took questions for most of the time," the fundraiser says, adding that she projected an "upbeat" air and that she said, "I'm a fighter, when I get knocked down, I get right up, we're gonna win this."

Now, some of us are happy about her determination to win, while others of us are not.

But here, for me, is the unanswered question of the day:

Will Hillary Clinton campaign to elect Barack Obama President of the United States if he gets the nomination?

And by "campaign" I mean work really hard... making the case over and over again for how much better America - and the rest of the world - will be if Barack Obama is president instead of John McCain.

I ask this question because Hillary has shifted so completely into "make Barack appear unelectable in the minds of the Super Delegates" mode that I find my mind flooded with questions:

How in the world would she campaign for him? (Can someone help someone win after putting so much energy into driving up his negatives?)

How would she help him win the big states that she has won? (Does she even admit in her mind -- after saying that only she can win the big states - that Barack could also win California? New York? Massachusetts? .... especially with her help?)

And the final question on my mind: Would she campaign for him at all?

With Hillary's strategy being to tear down Barack -- rather than try to convince the voters she will do more for them than he will -- I have a real problem seeing how she will flip that into helping him in the general election.

It's almost as if Hillary is telling us that unless she gets the nomination she will leave the Democratic Party... because a Barack Obama candidacy would be so unacceptable to her.

Of course, as far as I know, Hillary has no plans to leave the Democratic Party.

----------------------------

UPDATE: Friday, 1:40am Eastern

Barack Obama has consistently said Hillary Clinton is a capable person and that he will support her for president if she gets the nomination. You can watch him say that on CNN below, in an interview conducted after he won the Mississippi primary this week Tuesday.

Follow Steven G. Brant on Twitter: www.twitter.com/SteveBrant

Comments

[davg]

Could be dangerous. When Ted Kennedy lost to Carter in the primary, Ted never forgot it. Not only did he not campaign hard for Carter, he didn't support him after he was elected president. Clinton may do the same if Obama is elected. But her influence isn't as great as Kennedy's was... and is. And I'm sure he'll have the backing of Pelosi and Reid. She may just marginalize herself politically and ruin her own chances of attaining the White House at some future data.

[Marrob]

I HOPE NOT!!! Hillary should just tell her supporters to back Obama and get out of the way.

[ajax2]

My guess would be that Bill, Hillary, and the DLC will withhold open support unless they get war concessions from Barrack.

[jojojo]

I'm an Obama supporter, so of course I hope she does NOT campaign for him.

[Tankan]

Having behaved like Brutus..........

They will honor him with their lips, but their hearts will be far from him!

[joja]

I certainly hope that neither of the Clintons will campaign for Obama.

We want him to win!

[vanessa04]

This is the FIRST time I have heard Obama say he would support Clinton. She, on the other hand, HAS consistently said from the beginning of the campaign that she would support WHOEVER the Democratic nominee is.

Obama has said on more than one occasion that he is confident that he would get the votes of Clinton's supporters, but he didn't believe she would get the votes of his supporters. And let us not forget Michelle Obama's ungracious, "I'll have to think about that." when asked if she would support Clinton as the nominee.

So, yeah, he said it after MS, but it's taken him a hell of a long time to get around to it. Funny how his timing coincides when he's played the race card once too often.

Some of us remember all the facts. Not just the cherry-picked ones.

[jvarga]

How does she reconcile her statement that "she would support WHOEVER the Democratic nominee is. " when she has endorsed the republican nominee over Senator Obama (who is a Democrat).

[Steven G. Brant - Huffpost Blogger]

I don't doubt that this is the first time *you* have heard Barack say that, but that doesn't change the fact that he has been saying this consistently during the entire campaign.

You say he doesn't believe Hillary will get the votes of his supporters, but you don't site any sources for that statement. Either way, I was writing about what candidate Hillary Clinton will do... not her supporters. There is no way she can control her supporters. They are not members of a cult that blindly follow their leader, after all... and neither are Barack's.

Michelle's statement is well known, but I was not writing about Bill Clinton. I was writing about Hillary.

"Some of us remember all the facts" may be true about some people, but right now it doesn't appear that you have the facts straight... nor that you are presenting facts relevant to what I wrote.

[texanna]

Brant,his statement about him getting her votes but her not getting his was made in an interview on the NBC Today show around the time of the Iowa caucus. I'm sure you can find it if you google Today and Obama.

[Tankan]

I would openly state, I will never support a warmonger, fearmonger or a racist!

[jojojo]

Then why would she repeatedly suggest that McCain would be a better president?

[Macready]

I don't think she will either . . . jojojo . . .bill might . . . but it would be hafl hearted at best ... suspect it is best to not expect hope from the clinton camp .. . they are too vindictive .. .as their campaign has repeatedly shown . . .

[RickCadena]

Since this is an agreement that she and Bill have had, which is now falling apart at the seams, will she divorce Bill if Obama gets the nomination and is elected president? Would she wait until after January 20, 2009 to file for divorce, or do it right after the convention? Obama is the best candidate to come along in a very long time. This country needs class (Obama), not trash (the Clintons).

[neem]

If Obama gets the nomination, the Clintons will not divorce. They will work to get McCain elected, and then they will try again for the Democratic nomination in 2012.

[vincealy]

Her plan is to either get the nomination or make Obama unelectable. She can wait 4 more years but not 8. She fells entitled she waited thur the many bimbo eruptions. Now she needs Bill to make her president

[texanna]

You know, of all of the fantastical misstatements and mythologies that the supporters of Sen. Obama have created and spread over the last two months, the one about Sen. Clinton turning Republican and helping McCan't get elected is the most ridiculous.

[RobtBrock]

Of course, she will, foo...she's a good Democrat. I just hope that he is all that.

[hopelessobama]

no, not at all. she has nothing but contempt for obama. he is the 'flavor of the month' who has stolen her 'moment'. he is ruining the clinton legacy, destroying decades of planning and hard work. all the years she had to put up with humilation from her husband and attacks from gingrich and the republcans, all the work and all the sacrafice, this was the reward: president hillary clinton. it was he just due, for enduring, for surviving, for getting through it. this was what it was for, this moment, until HE showed up, speechifying and steeling her thunder. this was supposed to be her year-long coronation, on the march to the first woman presidency, easily deflecting republican mud as the clintons have done for years. but obama has ruined all of that. i have little doubt she despises barack obama, with a passion. mccain, on the other hand, she has alot of respect for, even a friendship with. if she can hurt obama enough, mccain becomes her lifeline. if mccain wins, he will be 76 when running for reelection, or his VP will be running. either way, an easier target. and when she runs again, would anyone dare challenge her after what she did to barack? would she stop obama and wait 4 years for one last chance; you better believe it.

[bobbylee]

Sen. Clinton will indeed become an Independent Democrat, she will not support Sen. Obama when he win the nomination, her only concern is chiefly with herself, Howard Dean and the Democratic Party will finally see how devisive and destructive this woman can be and they only have themselves to blame.

[colleen2]

"Would she campaign for him at all?"

My guess is no. Although they've made a great deal of money, the Clintons have not , after all, been very helpful to the Democratic party. They've become as embarrassing as Zell Miller or Joe Lieberman.
Indeed she and her 'advisers', true to their DLC ideology, sound as if they're doing to elect her as McCain's VP.

[mlaiuppa]

Hillary Clinton is not going to be John McCain's running mate....as far as I know.

[illinoisan]

Clinton has made it pretty obvious that in a contest between McCain and Obama, her preference would be McCain. She might not go out and campaign for McCain but in the privacy of the voting booth, McCain would be her choice based on their friendship, mutual donor base and his experience.

I just wish some reporter would put the question to her.

[kcal2000]

When Obama gets the nomination, the Clinton camp can spin their attacks as some kind of "basic training" preparing him for the general election. Bill can come out & say we wanted to throw everything at him now to see if he would survive, so the republicans won't have much to throw in the general election. I do believe the Clintons will ultimately support him.