Hillary Rodham
Clinton told colleagues Tuesday she would consider joining
Barack Obama as his running mate, and advisers said she was
withholding a formal departure from the race partly to
use her remaining leverage to press for a spot on the
ticket.
On a conference
call with other New York lawmakers, Clinton, a New York
senator, said she was willing to become Obama's vice
presidential nominee if it would help Democrats win
the White House, according to several participants in
the call.
Clinton's remarks
came in response to a question from Democratic
representative Nydia Velazquez, who said she believed
the best way for Obama to win key voting blocs,
including Hispanics, would be for him to choose
Clinton as his running mate.
''I am open to
it,'' Clinton replied, if it would help the party's
prospects in November. Her direct quote was described by two
lawmakers who spoke on condition of anonymity because
they were not authorized to speak for Clinton.
Clinton also told
colleagues the delegate math was not there for her to
overtake Obama, but that she wanted to take time to
determine how to leave the race in a way that would
best help Democrats.
''I deserve some
time to get this right,'' she said, even as the other
lawmakers forcefully argued for her to press Obama to choose
her as his running mate.
Joseph Crowley, a
Queens Democrat who participated in the call, said her
answer ''left open the possibility that she would do
anything that she can to contribute toward a
Democratic victory in November. There was no hedging
on that. Whatever she can do to contribute, she was willing
to do.''
Another person on
the call, Rep. Jose Serrano of New York City, said her
answer was ''just what I was hoping to hear.... Of course,
she was interested in being president, but she's just
as interested in making sure Democrats get elected in
November.''
Rep. Charles
Rangel, a devoted booster of Clinton who helped pave the way
for her successful Senate campaign, said he spoke to her
Tuesday and got much the same answer.
''She's run a
great campaign and even though she'll be a great senator,
she has a lot of followers that obviously Obama doesn't
have, and clearly the numbers are against her and so I
think they bring all parts of the Democratic Party
together and then some,'' Rangel said.
Aides to the
Illinois senator said he and Clinton had not spoken about
the prospects of her joining the ticket.
Obama effectively
sewed up the 2,118 delegates needed to win the
nomination Tuesday, based on a tally of pledged delegates,
superdelegates who have declared their preference, and
another 18 superdelegates who have confirmed their
intentions to the Associated Press. It also included
five delegates Obama was guaranteed as long as he gained 15%
of the vote in South Dakota and Montana later in the
day.
Word of Clinton's
vice presidential musings came as she prepared to
deliver a televised address to supporters on the final night
of the epic primary season. She was working out final
details of the speech at her Chappaqua, N.Y., home
with her husband, former president Bill Clinton, their
daughter, Chelsea, and close aides.
Earlier, on NBC's
Today Show, Clinton campaign chairman Terry
McAuliffe said that once Obama gets the majority of
convention delegates "Hillary Clinton will congratulate him
and call him the nominee.''
Clinton will
pledge to continue to speak out on issues like health care.
But for all intents and purposes, two senior officials said,
her campaign is over.
Most campaign
staff will be let go and paid through June 15, said the
officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they
were not authorized to divulge her plans.
The advisers said
Clinton has made a strategic decision to not formally
end her campaign, giving her leverage to negotiate with
Obama on various matters including a possible vice
presidential nomination for her. She also wants to
press him on issues he should focus on in the fall, such as
health care.
Universal health
care, Clinton's signature issue as first lady in the
1990s, was a point of dispute between Obama and the New York
senator during their epic nomination fight.
Other names have
been floated as possible running mates for Obama,
including New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, former North
Carolina senator John Edwards, and governors including
Janet Napolitano of Arizona, Kathleen Sebelius of
Kansas, and Tim Kaine of Virginia. Also mentioned are
foreign policy experts including former Georgia senator Sam
Nunn, Connecticut senator Chris Dodd, and Delaware senator
Joe Biden, and other senators such as Missouri's
Claire McCaskill and Virginia's Jim Webb.
Obama could also
look outside the party to people such as antiwar
Republican senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska or independent
New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg. Or he could look
to one of his prominent supporters such as former
senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota or try to bring on a
Clinton supporter, such as Indiana senator Evan Bayh or
retired general Wesley Clark. (AP)
