Penn: Fight On!
Even if reports that Hillary Clinton will acknowledge Barack Obama has enough votes to win, one man is urging her to stay in it.
Former top strategist Mark Penn, reviled by many on Hillary's staff but still an important voice in the candidate's ear, has emerged (to no one's surprise) as the strongest advocate of her remaining in the race regardless of what happens in the next 24 hours, according to sources inside the campaign.
In contrast to the "realist faction" (which reportedly includes Penn's replacement Geoff Garin, communications chief Howard Wolfson and others), Penn is advising the Clintons to remain in the race through the convention -- just in case another Rev. Wright-type scuffle breaks out.
His argument: Suspend the campaign if you must, but don't end it, because all those Obama supers will flock to Hillary if more dirt on O emerges before the convention.
Until recently, Bill and Chelsea were said to be in the Penn camp, but that may have changed in recent days. And Hillary has kept her own counsel, people close to her say.
Clinton's delegate wrangler Harold Ickes, who helped lead Teddy Kennedy's charge against Jimmy Carter at the 1980 convention, is said to be conflicted, campaign sources say. On one hand, he's eager to reverse what he believes to be a shameful DNC ruling last weekend that delivered four Clinton delegates to Obama -- but keenly aware of the damage a protracted campaign will do to the party.
Yesterday, on a conference call with several dozen pro-Clinton House members, Rep Allyson Schwartz (D-Pa.) gently prodded Ickes to make a decision on Clinton's future by the end of the month. The mercurial Ickes responded, "We've got to do this by the end of this week!" according to member of congress who was listening in
--Glenn Thrush
http://blogs.trb.com/news/local/longisland/politics/blog/2008/06/penn_fight_on.html
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