About last night

By: aznew
Published On: 5/7/2008 11:27:33 AM

Usually, the morning after a primary, I get an explicit fundraising appeal from the Clinton campaign. Usually, it is "from" Maggie Williams, or McAuliff, sometimes Chelsea, sometimes Bill. Sometimes they forward along a message from Hillary, but it is rarely "from" her.

This morning's email was different in a few ways.
First, the "sender" was Hillary, not a surrogate. Here is the text:

Dear Alan,

Tonight's victory in Indiana was close, and a margin that narrow means just one thing: every single thing you did to help us win in Indiana helped make the difference.

Every call you made, every friend you spoke to about our campaign, every dollar you contributed made tonight's victory possible. And I couldn't be more thankful for your hard work.

Every time we've celebrated a victory, we've celebrated it together. And tonight is no exception. This victory is your victory, this campaign is your campaign, and your support has been the difference between winning and losing.

Thank you so much for making this campaign possible. Let's keep making history together.

Sincerely,
Hillary Rodham Clinton

Note that it is all in the past tense, and more of a thank you note, not an active appeal for contributions.

Just to compare, here is the email I received following Pennsylvania:

Folks, I've never seen anything like it -- thanks to you we are breaking every record we've ever had. The number of people coming on our website and supporting Hillary is nothing short of incredible. More than 50,000 people have contributed to the campaign for the very first time in the last 24 hours alone.

If you haven't gone to the website today and made a contribution, now's the time to join the wave of grassroots support. And if you have contributed, send this message to your friends and tell them to join you.

Click here to contribute and help Hillary win.

Thank you for making this an incredible day,
Terry McAuliffe
Chairman
Hillary Clinton for President

And for good measure, attached to that McAuliffe email was this letter from Hillary:

Dear Alan,

This campaign is your campaign, and the victory we celebrated last night is your victory.

Now, thanks to you, the tide is turning in this race. We never stopped believing in one another, never doubted that we could count on each other. You didn't quit, and when I'm president, I promise I won't quit on you.

Now with the next critical contests right around the corner, we need your immediate help to build on the hard-earned momentum of our Pennsylvania victory and continue our success all the way to the nomination.

Contribute today to help carry our momentum to Indiana, North Carolina, West Virginia, and beyond.

Even though the Obama campaign went for broke trying to knock us out of the race, the people of Pennsylvania had other ideas.

We connected with Pennsylvania families who know they need a strong leader who's on their side to turn around the battered Bush economy and end President Bush's disastrous war in Iraq. And as this redefined contest moves across the country, we'll keep connecting.

I'm in this race to fight for you. And you know you can count on me to keep fighting for you every day. And as long as we keep working together, we'll wrest control of the White House from the Republicans and defeat John McCain. I'm going to continue to rely on your heart and your spirit every step of the way.

Contribute now, and together, we can carry our winning message to victory.

Thanks to you, we're on a roll. And with your immediate help, we'll keep moving forward until we've won the Democratic nomination, won the November election, and earned the opportunity to lead America in a new, more promising direction.

Thanks so much for believing in me and believing in how much we can accomplish if we keep pulling together.

Sincerely,
Hillary Rodham Clinton

Times directly asked to contribute right after Pennsylvania: 5
Times directly asked to contribute this morning: 0

As Mark Hannah said, "There are two important things in politics. The first is money. I can't remember what the second one is."

Comments



McGovern is Switching from Hillary to Obama Today (Matt H - 5/7/2008 11:33:02 AM)
The AP is reporting that former Sen. George McGovern is switching his support from Hillary to Obama, and is urging Hillary to drop out.  Is this the beginning of the end for Hillary?

http://www.wtop.com/?nid=213&s...



Time is reporting that (aznew - 5/7/2008 11:47:46 AM)
Stephanopoulos is saying that Obama will start rolling out superdels with increasing rapidity now.

http://tpmelectioncentral.talk...

Should Clinton's negative campaigning continue, this will happen faster. Given Hillary's miniscule chances after last night, I can't believe party leaders would tolerate it any longer. There isn't any justification for it.

She can stay in, get her KY and WV victories if she likes, but if she goes too negative on Obama, superdels will put a quick end to it.  



I hope you are correct (snolan - 5/7/2008 12:17:03 PM)
While I hope she stays in the race just to encourage voter registrations and turnout in WV, KY, OR, PR, SD, and MT - and to let their voices and votes get heard and counted... I sincerely hope she starts trying to reconcile with Obama and the party that the negativity stops entirely.

I don't want her on the ticket, but staying in the Senate is cool, and perhaps even higher office some day...   Cabinet post?



Already, some senior party members are taking steps (aznew - 5/7/2008 4:53:11 PM)
to make sure the race doesn't remain negative from this point on.

At least, that's what I draw from reports like this:

http://thehill.com/campaign-20...

They are trying to be deferential, but all are making clear that the party is more important to them than Clinton.



Sad (tx2vadem - 5/7/2008 1:18:14 PM)
As we get closer to the end, I feel a little sad for Hillary Clinton.  I wonder how she will end this.  It must be very difficult for her.  Also, you're right (in an earlier comment), it is hard not admire her will.


Tim Russert: It's over (Lowell - 5/7/2008 1:43:10 PM)


No moment of quiet respite (tx2vadem - 5/7/2008 3:21:23 PM)
Always scrutinized, all the time.  Now the chattering class is writing her obituary.  And there is advice a plenty on how she should manage her affairs.  It must be such a heavy weight to bear.  I wonder if she is ever alone with her own thoughts.


Well, she's asking for contributions again (aznew - 5/7/2008 2:27:53 PM)
I just got another email. After the text, I'll offer a thought:

Dear Alan,

Today, in every way that I know how, I am expressing my personal determination to keep forging forward in this campaign.

After our come-from-behind victory in Indiana, there are just 28 days of voting left. But we've never campaigned with the stakes as high or the time as short as they will be over the next four weeks.

And with you by my side, I'm going to keep fighting for what I believe in until every voter has had his or her say.

From the very beginning, you and I have counted on one another, working through every challenge and seizing every opportunity. That's not just the way our campaign works. That's the way America works.

As we enter the final four weeks of this contest, let's keep working our hearts out.

Contribute now to keep moving our campaign forward.

In six days, we have the chance to show our strength in West Virginia. If you'll stand with me, it's an opportunity I intend to make the most of.

There's no question about it -- we've got to make every one of these next 28 days count -- starting with today.

Contribute now, and let's keep winning together.

As we've told each other time and time again. There will be good days and not so good days in the course of this campaign. But there will never be a day that we can't count on one another.

As we enter the final 28 days of voting, I know you'll give it everything you've got. And you know I will do the same.

Thanks for being such a wonderful friend and ally,

Hillary Rodham Clinton

It seems three things are going on.

1. They have made a tactical decision to go through West Virginia and see whether they get any traction there. If not, she can leave following a victory, not a loss.

2. Last night, they weren't sure what to do. Thus, their first email was not a fundraising one. They are now asking for money, so I assume they batted it around this morning and made their decision to continue.

3. This email is not very strong. In some ways, it seems to be saying, "If you don't want to contribute, we understand. We want to thank you for prior donations." This leads me to believe that absent some event that turns this race upside down, Clinton herself has concluded she cannot go on much past WV.

The question will be the tone of her campaign. I would just hate to see her staying negative on Obama, who is close to, if not already, the presumptive nominee.



She also donated more than $6 mil to her campaign. (Silence Dogood - 5/7/2008 3:56:43 PM)
I don't care how much money President Clinton makes an hour as a public speaker, you don't add $6 million in debt to the candidate in order to drop out.


One might if she were in debt and couldnd't pay the bills n/t (KathyinBlacksburg - 5/7/2008 5:57:13 PM)


And it was last month (aznew - 5/7/2008 6:08:13 PM)
That money is gone. How much more will the Clinton's put in?  


There's a point when you're playing poker (Silence Dogood - 5/8/2008 10:51:51 AM)
where enough of your money is already in the pot that you simply can't walk away from the hand, even if your cards aren't all that great.  I'm pretty sure Hillary Clinton is at that point.