Prominent Clinton Backers Slowly Backing Off

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Despite Terry McAuliffe’s insistence that the race is not over and may not even be over when Obama gets to the (new) magic number of 2,118 delegates, the Clinton campaign is facing a serious challenge from within. Key surrogates are weakening in their support.

Here’s former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack:

“It does appear to be pretty clear that Senator Obama is going to be the nominee. After Tuesday’s contests, she needs to acknowledge that he’s going to be the nominee and quickly get behind him.”

Florida Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz:

“It would be most beneficial if we resolved this nomination sooner rather than later… The more time we have to get through a general-election period and the more time we have to prepare in advance of the convention, the better.”

Former national party chairman Donald Fowler, on whether to appeal the Michigan/Florida decision:

“Unless something happens that I don’t expect to happen in the next, say, by the end of June, my answer to that is not only no but, hell no… What good does it do? What good does it do anybody?”

Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, on the same:

“I think it’s outrageous they took four delegates away from her… But I think with 170 delegates separating them, it’s not worth making the case.”

Harold Ickes, who emerged as the Clinton campaign’s primary voice in the fight over Michigan and Florida, contradicted Terry McAuliffe when he said, “It’ll be over when one candidate secures the number for the nomination.” Ickes admitted that the race could be over this week, signaling a resignation (or acceptance) that probably exists across Hillaryland.

If I had to gamble, I’d say Clinton leaves the race one day after Obama gets to 2,118. I’d also bet that when Obama gets to 2,117, his campaign receives a rush of endorsements from superdels who want to be the deciding vote.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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