Vt. Senator Calls for Clinton to Drop Out
By Kate Phillips
Senator Patrick Leahy, who has endorsed fellow Senator Barack Obama, called for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to drop out of the presidential race in a radio interview today.
Talking on Vermont Public Radio, Mr. Leahy said: “There is no way that Senator Clinton is going to win enough delegates to get the nomination. She ought to withdraw and she ought to be backing Senator Obama. Now, obviously that’s a decision that only she can make. Frankly, I feel that she would have a tremendous career in the Senate.”
Senator Clinton obviously displays no inclination to quit the race. In interviews just yesterday, she mentioned there could even be a “credentials fight” at the Democratic convention in August. And her campaign has consistently promoted the notion that she’s the favorite among many of the big states, evidenced currently by her popularity in Pennsylvania with its primary on April 22.
Both Senators Leahy and Senator Chris Dodd, the former presidential candidate from Connecticut and another Obama backer, have become the latest Democratic officials to express their worries that this protracted primary battle could hurt the party’s chances in the general election cycle.
Mr. Leahy said today that he was concerned about the outcome. “John McCain, who has been making one gaffe after another, is getting a free ride on it because Senator Obama and Senator Clinton have to fight with each other. I think that her criticism is hurting him more than anything John McCain has said. I think that’s unfortunate.”
In an interview with the National Journal, Senator Dodd — while not calling for Mrs. Clinton to drop out — also expressed his concerns:
We’ve got a contest coming up in Pennsylvania and one in North Carolina and Indiana very quickly afterwards. In my view, the outcome of those three races will determine — I think the race has been determined, anyway, at this point. I think it’s very difficult to imagine how anyone can believe that Barack Obama can’t be the nominee of the party. I think that’s a foregone conclusion, in my view, at this juncture given where things are.
But certainly over the next couple of weeks, as we get into April, it seems to me then, that the national leadership of this party has to stand up and reach a conclusion. And in the absence of doing that — and that’s not easy, and I realize it’s painful. But the alternatives, allowing this sort of to fester over the months of June, and July and August, I think, are irresponsible. I think you have to make a decision, and hopefully the candidates will respect it and people will rally behind a nominee that, I think, emerges from these contests over the next month. That’s my suggestion. That’s what I would do.
For his part, Howard Dean, the Democratic National Committee chairman, appeared on several of the morning news programs today but stopped short of criticizing the primary process as it stands.
He told CNN today that the Democratic party leadership had been in touch with the two campaigns to tone down the tensions between them.
“Personal attacks demoralize the base,” Mr. Dean said, adding the focus should be on Iraq, gas prices, mortgages and the economy.
“These are the things the American people care about. They don’t care about people bickering over pastors, over who said what in Bosnia.” |
