The AP is reporting that Clinton will acknowledge in her speech following the South Dakota and Montana primaries tonight that Obama has the delegates needed for the Democratic Party nomination. Terry McAuliffe said on NBC this morning that when Obama gets the delegates for the nomination, Clinton will concede. That suggests Clinton will shut down her campaign or suspend her campaign tonight.
Yet, McAuliffe just went on CNN and said, “the race goes on.” He insisted that Clinton will only drop out or suspend her campaign when Obama officially gets 2,118. The Clinton campaign sent out a blitz to reporters backing McAuliffe up and saying Clinton will not concede tonight. But all of this insistence that the race doesn’t end tonight is a bit silly. It will probably end tomorrow or Thursday, when Obama gets enough superdelegates to push him over the edge.
And finally, I want to reiterate something I said yesterday. When Obama gets to 2,117, every undeclared superdelegate in America is going to be calling David Axelrod hoping to be the deciding vote. I’ll bet the campaign groups a whole bunch together in order to avoid a melee.
Update: AP also reporting that Obama has asked for a meeting with Clinton “on her terms” for “after the dust settles.” Let the healing begin.