Clinton aide denies she is conceding

Hillary Clinton’s campaign chief Terry McAuliffe was forced to call CNN today and go on air to quash rumours that his boss was preparing to concede victory in the Democratic nomination race.

Major news outlets claimed to have been contacted anonymously by Clinton campaign advisors to tell them that their candidate recognised Barack Obama had enough delegates to secure their party’s endorsement. The Huffington Post reported mid-afternoon UK time: “Hillary Rodham Clinton will concede Tuesday night that Obama has the delegates to secure the Democratic nomination…effectively ending her bid to be the nation's first female president.”

But McAuliffe was adamant in his response: “I can honestly say, as chairman of this campaign, that until someone has the numbers, this campaign carries on.”

However, it was looking more and more likely that Barack Obama would have the numbers before long. He is only 40 or so delegates behind the magic number of 2,118 delegates – including elected state delegates and superdelegates – needed to allow him to declare victory over Clinton.

There are only 31 elected delegates at stake in today’s final primaries in South Dakota and Montana. But there are still nearly 200 undeclared superdelegates, and observers expected a rush of endorsements from them for Obama, possibly as early as tonight. One key superdelegate came out for Obama today - Representative James E Clyburn, the house majority whip – and that was expected to prompt similar endorsements.

Meanwhile the Clinton campaign has been thrown by a Vanity Fair report claiming that Bill Clinton has hindered his wife’s campaign and that he has been having an affair with a Hollywood actress.

FIRST POSTED JUNE 3, 2008