AP: She Will Concede Tonight… McAuliffe, Ickes: No Way!

This morning the Associated Press released a story quoting anonymous sources within the Clinton campaign, indicating that Hillary would “concede Tuesday night that Barack Obama has the delegates to secure the Democratic nomination.” Cable news networks jumped on the story and recast tonight’s Clinton rally as the venue for a concession speech, but campaign manager Terry McAuliffe and adviser Harold Ickes immediately took to the airwaves to emphatically deny the AP report.

RedPhoneDiaries is also hearing that the South Dakota primary is too close to call, and could land unexpectedly in Clinton’s column tonight. Such an event can be a game-changer for the junior senator from New York. It would bolster her argument that Obama cannot “close the deal,” and cannot win the [white] voters he needs to win to beat John McCain.

RedPhoneDiaries Prediction: Hillary huddles in Chappaqua all day with McAuliffe, Ickes, Maggie Williams, Howard Wolfson, and the man himself, Bill Clinton. We now know what Clinton thinks of Todd Purdum (Vanity Fair article “The Comeback Id”) — the elder statesman described his former press secretary’s husband with such statesmanlike language as “slimy… sleazy… a scumbag.” We can imagine what he thinks of Barack Obama, and we can guess at his recommendation to Hillary today in the quiet, leafy confines of his Chappaqua estate:

Hillary, I want you to take the stage tonight in Manhattan and remind your supporters that you will never, ever quit. Remind the world that you won the most votes in primary history, more than Barack Obama. Remind the world that you lead McCain in every poll and can win the swing states, and that Obama as the nominee would send white voters running to vote for McCain. Remind Democrats that you are the best candidate and would make the best president. Issue your final challenge to Obama, to the media and to the DNC — you reject the Florida compromise. You reject the Michigan compromise. You will challenge both rulings in the credentials committee and on the floor of the convention. Remind the world that every superdelegate, every delegate in fact, is free to vote their conscience on the first ballot at the convention. Remind the world that we Democrats can have a real convention, not a made-for-TV coronation. The dream shall never die!

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