Several close friends and supporters of Democratic Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, who is trailing behind party rival Barack Obama, are seeking a “graceful exit strategy” for her from the nomination race, possibly as part of a joint ticket for the White House, a media report said on Saturday.
But analysts said it would not be good idea and doubted that either Clinton or front-runner Obama would agree to it. The discussions, CNN said, are not taking place between the campaigns but rather among informal campaign advisers on both sides who are trying to actively influence and shape the debate as the competition nears a close on June 3 which will witness final primaries.
The network quoted Bill Burton, national spokesman for Obama’s campaign, as saying that “there are no talks under way between the campaigns” and that any suggestion from Clinton insiders is “unequivocally untrue.”
“We are two campaigns, in real competition, not having any such talks about exit strategies,” Burton said. Obama’s campaign chief strategist David Axelrod told CNN “there have been zero discussions, back-channel or otherwise, between the campaigns.”
Clinton campaign aides, CNN says, also deny that any talks are taking place between the campaigns, emphasising that the contest is not over.
Clinton herself said the report was “flatly untrue” during a meeting with the editorial board of a South Dakota paper on Friday. But the network said some Clinton camp insiders and close friends are actively floating three scenarios that they believe will influence whether or how the two teams merge.
The first scenario is Obama ignores Clinton and her supporters and makes the vice presidential offer to someone else. But one insider was quoted as saying, “this would be a total dismissal of her and totally unacceptable.”
“This could mean open civil war within the party,” another said. “If he doesn’t offer at all, you’ve got a breakdown. A real resentment there.”
Another source was quoted as saying it would not mean Clinton would refuse to campaign for Obama. But she would do so the way President Bill Clinton campaigned for Al Gore, which the source characterised as “aloof.”
The second scenario they foresee is for Obama to publicly offer Clinton the vice presidential spot, with the understanding that she would turn it down. But several Clinton friends say “the problem is, the two sides do not trust each other” to follow through on this.
The third scenario they envision would be trying to get both the candidates to sit down face-to-face and work out an agreement suitable to both parties.
Some Clinton insiders say some points to consider would be how to help pay off the Clinton campaign debt – roughly USD 30 million — or whether he would offer support for a possible Clinton effort to become Senate majority leader.
Clinton insiders were quoted as saying she is aware that some of her supporters are pushing for her to get an offer to join the ticket, but they say she has not thought about whether she wants the vice presidential slot because she is still campaigning for the top job.
There is a real split in the Clinton camp over whether she should even accept an offer to join the ticket, if it were to materialise, CNN said.