Clinton ends historic bid, endorses Obama

< Prev | 1 | 2

Video

Todd: Clinton staked claim in speech
June 7: NBC political director Chuck Todd says that in her Obama endorsement speech, Hillary Clinton staked her claim as the top female political figure in the U.S.

MSNBC

AP	Video: In her own words Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., speaks to the primary themes of her presidential campaign.
	Cartoons: Clinton MSNBC.com's editorial cartoonists weigh in on Hillary Clinton's candidacy.
Reuters	Slide show: A political life From Watergate to Whitewater, politics has played a major role in Hillary Clinton’s life.

In deciding to suspend her campaign, Clinton kept some options open. She gets to retain her delegates to the nominating convention this summer and she can continue to raise money. It also means she could reopen her campaign if circumstances change before the Denver convention, but gave no indication that was her intention.

As soon as Clinton finished speaking, some of the nearly 300 Democratic party leaders and elected officials across the country who had pledged their support to her as superdelegates released statements announcing they now back Obama. The switchers included some of Clinton's most high-profile supporters, including Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, Maryland Sen. Barbara Mikulski and Maine Gov. John Baldacci.

Clinton supporters began lining up at dawn to attend the farewell address. A smattering of Obama backers showed up as well, saying they did so as a gesture of party unity.

Story continues below ↓

advertisement | your ad here

As they awaited her arrival, campaign staffers milled the room, exchanging hugs and saying goodbye.

'A somber day'
Clinton seemed almost buoyant in her address, feeding off the energy of a loud and appreciative crowd.

"Well, this isn't exactly the party I planned but I sure like the company," she said as she opened her speech.

Clinton backers described themselves as sad and resigned. "This is a somber day," said Jon Cardinal, one of the first in line. Cardinal said he planned, reluctantly, to support Obama in the general election. "It's going to be tough after being against Obama for so long," he said.

Republicans quickly launched a "Clinton vs. Obama" page on the Republican National Committee's Web site drawing attention to her criticism of Obama during the campaign.

President Bush praised the symbolism of the 2008 field.

"I thought it was a really good statement, powerful moment when a major political party nominates an African-American man to be their standard bearer," he said in an interview Friday with an Italian journalist. "And it's good for our democracy that that happened. And we also had a major contender being a woman. Obviously Hillary Clinton was a major contender. So I think it's a good sign for American democracy."

Picking the president: The candidates
Click to visit that candidate's MSNBC page or click the XML symbol for an RSS feed.

John McCain
Barack Obama