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Clinton Says Goodbye to Campaign Staffers

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June 04, 2008 4:30 PM

ABC News' Kate Snow Reports: Sen. Hillary Clinton visited staff at her headquarters in Arlington, Virginia Wednesday just after most of them had been told they would no longer have to report to work after Friday.

A staffer who was in the room said she invited all of her campaign staff to come to her home on Friday.

Before Clinton arrived, the staff was told that they would be paid through June 15th. But the bulk of the staff was told their last day of work would be Friday.

Junior staffers were emotional and some were crying and as Clinton left her headquarters, she waved to cameras outside.

Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., claimed victory in their the tightly contested Democratic nomination battle on Tuesday, after the votes from South Dakota and Montana were counted.

ABC News' Eloise Harper and Eileen Murphy contributed to this report.

June 4, 2008 in Bush, George W., Kucinich, Dennis, Tancredo, Tom, Veepstakes | Permalink | User Comments (83)

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Wow, just reading these comments lets me know how divided we really are. I was pulling for Hillary, but will definitely vote for Obama as he is now our candidate. Let's not forget the reasons that we have been so passionate about this election. I don't think anyone of us want to see McCain as President.

Posted by: Tony | Jun 4, 2008 5:40:57 PM

You know Obama ran superdelegates out to win this the thing .

Posted by: Bishop | Jun 4, 2008 5:43:23 PM

Bho and supporters - your worry is not just about bitter. You have permanently lost these votes in November.

Posted by: fools | Jun 4, 2008 5:43:48 PM

A few words about Sen. Hillary Clinton, from an Obama supporter.

She was better than the campaign she ran. For that, her advisors are responsible.

She was better than the Sybil-like messages and strategies she switched between for the first 3-4 months of 2007. For that, she must bear the blame, as she made the decision to have her chief pollster double as her chief strategist.

She did MUCH better once she got away from Penn's microtargeting and started trying to connect directly to people. If she'd dumped Penn after Iowa, the truth is she may well have won the nomination.

Finally, she's better than the disservice she got from her President spouse. Next to Penn, I'd say Bill Clinton is the biggest reason she is planning an exit, rather than a general election campaign.

His inability to control his temper, and his refusal to adjust to the unblinking, everyone's-a-reporter media coverage, caused him to make one blunder after another.

But, despite all this baggage, Hillary Clinton never backed down, and never gave in, and never let Obama rest or coast. For that, I thank her - because Obama is now a much stronger candidate than he was at the end of February.

I don't think she'll get the VP nod - nor should she. But, I am sure she'll get the keynote at the convention, along with a number of other perks (possibly her version of universal health care?). She deserves that much, and I'm sure Obama will be happy to concede that to her.

Posted by: BMR, Pittsburgh PA | Jun 4, 2008 5:47:19 PM

IT'S TIME FOR THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY
TO SPLIT.........

HILLARY RUN AS AN INDEPENDENT.....

LISTEN TO YOUR VOTERS.........

Posted by: Nicholas | Jun 4, 2008 5:48:04 PM

I am with Debra too! My nominee is Hillary Clinton and none other. I am highly educated, a long time Democrat and voluteer for numerous causes throughout my life. This primary is the most unjust, disrespectful spectical I have ever witnessed other than when the Republicans were relentless and brutal with the Clintons too. No way in hell will I ever support a system that has tried to tear Hillary down in order to uplift the elitist Dems choice. I know I am one of MILLIONS and I am PROUD to be a Hillary Clinton supporter all the way.

Posted by: irma | Jun 4, 2008 5:55:34 PM

How can Hillary supporters say she should run as an independent when she couldn't win her own party's nomination? How would she pay for that run when her supporters didn't "support" her? Look at the parallels to Bill Clinton in 1992 to Obama in 2008. How can you think that Obama is somehow more liberal than Hillary? Is it because he didn't say he'd obliterate Iran? That doesn't make Hillary sound tough, it makes her sound naive and inexperienced.

Posted by: MarkieBee | Jun 4, 2008 5:58:55 PM

To the post that accuses us of being racist because we support Hillary. Stop being childish, irrational and ignorant. There are a lot more things we are concerned with than the pointless focus on skin color. We do not like your candidate for a lot more deeper reasons.

Posted by: irma | Jun 4, 2008 6:00:01 PM

Hillary's campaign was good enough to beat every candidate but one, and that is darn good. Obama's staff devised the best way to snare the maximum number of delegates. Hillary did not tune in to the specific details of getting the most delegates. Most glaringly, I'll never understand why she never grasped the mechanics of the caucuses. Even after several caucuses, her campaign never learned how to handle them. That is Politics 101.

Posted by: hopesprings52 | Jun 4, 2008 6:03:23 PM

I worked on the Gore campaign, which pains me to this day. I also worked on the Kerry campaign, but on that one I was not as shocked. This is not hurt we feel, this is anger against a DEM system that deliberately and systematically tried to tear her down because they wanted Obama. That is NEVER acceptible to true DEMS. What we witnessed was a disgrace to the Clintons and us.

Posted by: irma | Jun 4, 2008 6:05:56 PM

No you don't know that Joe, there is no past record of Obama having to deal with anything like that or being around and involved in any of that type of decision making.

Posted by: irma | Jun 4, 2008 6:09:35 PM

BMR, we could discuss experience vs. change. However, what helped Obama was not his message; which he had problems with as well since his speeches were somewhat recycled. We longtime voluteers for the DEMS are more able to focus on how a message is delivered, or what message is delivered. I personally thought it was a mistake to switch from experience to change. I thought it showed weakness in strategy by copying what was already Obama's. I was really concerned because it was done after she "found her voice." Something the campaign completely let slip through their fingers. I mean they didn't even try to go with it. She speaks for the working class; it would have been brilliant. So yes, I see the weaknesses, but I saw weaknesses with Obama's campaign as well. What Hillary was up against was wrong and deceitful propaganda that was delivered with fury by pundits on cable news 24/7. Of more concern was the push for Obama by Republican pundits specifically on CNN and MSNBC. As usual the rest of the media followed suit, just as they did when they called the election for Bush in 2000. The average voter was exposed to the media campaign for Obama. Most of them are not really focused on a candidates message as they are on the image that is portrayed by the media. We all know that. I did not have these strong anti Obama feelings in the beginning. My feelings were very neutral until the Clinton bashing began. That was a mistake that the Dems supporting Obama made. The Clintons are well respected and loved by the Democrats who know they were mostly well served by Bill's administration regardless of the preposterous Republican fixation on destroying him. We know Hillary's history, work and accomplishments. I feel betrayed by a party who was willing to take down a member who has so much of us on her side. That is something against US as well. One last point I would like to make and that is the concern I have with Republicans who mostly switched party afiliation in order to vote for Obama. So who really selected our nominee. I would love to see those numbers of original DEMS vs. Switched Republican DEMS.

Posted by: irma | Jun 4, 2008 6:36:21 PM

He is but one person he will have the BEST people to work with from all aspect of the political world and he will listen and learn ,will ask advice he can do much of noting unless congress is behiond him like any other before him.Give this young man a chance and lets go from change and make this land a great America again.

Posted by: white older voter | Jun 4, 2008 6:39:17 PM

I have a dream, now let the dream become a reality, I have been sleeping for over 25 years I need a reason to wake up and got one yesterday, now I need another reason to come home, see you all on Inauguration Day.

God has blessed America.

Posted by: Eppie Elkahan | Jun 4, 2008 6:41:51 PM

Irma "no past record of Obama having to deal with anything like that or being around and involved in any of that type of decision making".

W didn't have any experience for international affairs, and domestic too and he have got THE JOB twice. Something to think about, dear IRMA!

Posted by: ghost | Jun 4, 2008 6:43:04 PM

Guess what ghost W isn't a good example for your argument is he? I sure as hell didn't vote for him.

Posted by: irma | Jun 4, 2008 6:51:12 PM

Hey Paul: You, like the rest of your HRC crew are just poor losers! Everyone had their person to vote for and a winner's a winner and a loser's a loser. Get over yourself and vote democrat if you want to keep money in your pocket and your house off the market.

Posted by: virgoml | Jun 4, 2008 6:55:08 PM

Although I was a Clinton supporter, I will support Obama because I have first hand experience of what Bush's awful decisions have done to the economy. However, I have more respect for those who will write Hillary's name on a ballot, or stay home to protest, than I have for some Democrat to vote for McCain because Clinton didn't isn't the nominee.

Posted by: Betty Stein | Jun 4, 2008 6:58:16 PM

Hillary has no power now. She lost. Just like Romney and Huck. None of these folks has any power now. It's all up to Obama and McCain as they go forward. He can do whatever he wants regardless of Hillary's insurgents. He's a lock to win the White House with or without Hillary. Easy with her, harder without her, but still a lock. McCain is acting like a dottering old fool, that broke out of a nursing home, and thinks he's running for President. Every Republican I've talked to saw how pathetic McCain was in New Orleans last night. They told me they knew after that one speech that McCain was going to lose in a landslide in November. Goldwater again, anyone? BTW, Bill Clinton clearly disrespects and dislikes Obama.

Posted by: Honestly | Jun 4, 2008 6:58:18 PM

Honestly, She has 18 mil who support her, most of them long time DEMS. That is a hell of a lot of strength.

Posted by: irma | Jun 4, 2008 7:01:34 PM

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