The Political Chase

Clinton to quit if she loses Indiana?

The chattering heads on David Gregory’s show on MSNBC this evening said "something is up" in the Hillary campaign for mid-June. I know that can’t possibly be any more vague, so here’s the gist of what they said.

David Shuster, substituting for Gregory tonight, reported Hillary campaign manager Terry McAuliffe has set June 15 as the end date for the campaign. According to Shuster, the following exchange took place in an interview McAuliffe had with CQ’s David Corn:

MCAULIFFE:  The primaries finish on June 3, and after that there will be pressure on the uncommitted superdelegates to commit.

CORN:  So all done by June 15? You won’t contend the nomination contest beyond then?

MCAULIFFE:  (Smiling) Oh, I’m confident we’ll be the nominee.

Rachel Maddow then said:

"The real surprise is that we don’t hear [from] undecided superdelegates that they’re getting pressure from either the Democratic superpowers that be like Howard Dean or from Barack Obama. We’re only hearing about direct pressure on undecided superdelegates from Hillary Clinton."

Rachel’s point being that committed superdelegates aren’t being challenged to jump ship.

Joe Scarborough added:

"There’s something going on in the Clinton campaign because McAuliffe said that today. Last night, somebody very close to the Clinton campaign — very high up in the Clinton campaign — also told me something was going to happen in June. That this was not going to go to Denver. I’ve got no more details than that, but I find it very instructive that Terry McAuliffe said the same thing today."

Jay Carney (TIME) said he "was hearing the same thing" and that "it must arise out of some concern for the state of the party."

Carney went on to posit, summarizing, Clinton would continue if she won decisively in any of the upcoming primaries, but if she "lost" Indiana next week, she would "fold her tent up next week."

Eugene Robinson (WaPo) acknowledged he was hearing the same thing.

Scarborough then strongly reemphasized, "Something’s up."

They ended the segment collectively nodding and agreeing on "something’s up."

No one knows, or at least I don’t, what that "something" may be, but there was a different air in the conversation than the typical punditry and speculation — more conviction. And, it leaned toward Clinton acquiescing if she doesn’t hit a grand slam next week.

It could all be a Clinton tactic to indirectly interject a premature or false expectation of victory in the Obama camp, hoping they relax rather than push the next few days. I don’t believe the Obama camp would be that stupid, but they’ve had several tough weeks.

So. . .