Clinton Told to Bounce

 
Democrats' Clinton Era Said To Be Coming To End.
From the FrontrunnerThe New York Times (5/8, Nagourney) reports that after "16 years, the Clinton era may be coming to an end, presenting Democrats with a historic but potentially wrenching transition and a challenge to" Obama "as he seeks to reconcile a deeply divided party." While the "relationship between the party establishment and the Clintons has always been uneasy at best, an entire generation of Democrats has known no other figures as dominant as the two of them." Hillary Clinton "said Wednesday that she would remain in the race despite her double-digit loss in North Carolina and winning only narrowly in Indiana. But across the party, Democrats - including some of her own supporters - were confronting an increasing likelihood that their tangle of ties to and feelings about the Clintons would be swept aside for now as the party prepares for a new era with a leader, in Mr. Obama, who comes from a different generation and promises a very different style of politics."

Go Bye Bye
The Los Angeles Times (5/8, 881K) editorializes, "Even if Clinton were to win every remaining state by a comfortable margin, she could not amass enough delegates before the convention to pass Obama. Still, it's fair to ask whether there's any harm in continuing. The answer is yes." Clinton has no arguments "left to make. She has run a fine race, but she has lost."  The Washington Post (5/8, A22) editorializes, "Clinton may, as she promised yesterday, fight on through the next few weeks of primaries, but after her disappointing showing Tuesday she has no plausible route to victory."

Campaign Going Broke, If She Can't Run a Campaign, How Could She Run the Country?
Hillary Clinton's $6.4 million loans to her campaign over the last month could perhaps set the stage for the end game of the Democratic primary, as fundraising continues to prove a strength for rival Barack Obama. The Politico (5/8, Cummings) reports with "six primaries to go," Obama is "flush with cash, sources say. Hillary Clinton is out of it, again, her campaign concedes." The "extreme financial imbalance between the two candidates at this phase underscores the strategic advantage Obama gained by forcing Clinton to spend all her money to capture Pennsylvania and stay in the race." With Clinton "scrambling for cash, Obama spent nearly $8 million on television advertisements in North Carolina and Indiana ? including a last minute $300,000 ad buy in the expensive Chicago media market that reaches northwest Indiana, according to Evan Tracey, founder of Campaign Media Analysis Group, which tracks political advertising expenditures." Clinton "wound up spending about $4.5 million on television in those states, according to CMAG."

The AP (5/8) reports that the Clinton's camp said yesterday that she had lent her campaign $6.4 million in the last month.