Senator Hillary Clinton's campaign say she will drop out of the Democratic presidential race on Saturday and rally behind Senator Barack Obama, who clinched the Democratic nomination last night. According to the NY Times, "One adviser said that Mrs. Clinton would concede defeat, congratulate Mr. Obama and proclaim him the party’s nominee, while pledging to do what was needed to assure his victory."
Clinton's concession event will be in Washington D.C.; it was originally planned for Friday but her team moved it to Saturday in order, per a campaign statement, 'to accommodate more of Senator Clinton's supporters who want to attend." Apparently Democrats have been urging Clinton to step down in order for the party to unite behind Obama, and some of her backers, like superdelegate former VP Walter Mondale, have expressed their support for Obama (Mondale said Obama "has an excellent change of winning" against McCain).
New York Congressman Charles Rangel gave a few comments. To the Times, he said, "We pledged to support her to the end. Our problem is not being able to determine when the hell the end is.” To ABC News, Rangel said, "Unless she has some good reasons — which I can't think of — I really think we ought to get on with endorsements [of Obama] and dealing with what we have to deal with … so we can move forward." He added, "The fact that she said that she would be willing to serve as vice president doesn't necessarily mean that she's seeking the vice president's job."
