Sen. Patrick Leahy has gone where no Democratic leader has dared go. It's time, the Vermont senator said, for Hillary Clinton to get out of the presidential race. "She ought to withdraw and she ought to be backing Senator Obama," he told Vermont Public Radio.It should be noted that Leahy is an Obama supporter, so it is not as if he has any kind of neutral-observer/elder-statesman gravitas here. But still, by publicly stating the obvious he could end up starting a chorus of Democrats urging Clinton to wrap it up.
If enough voices chime in, the question of whether Clinton should withdraw will start to dominate the news cycle--a development which may or may not be good for the party. On the one hand it might actually push Clinton into withdrawing, allowing the Democrats to consolidate behind Obama and finally begin campaigning for the general. On the other hand, it may further alienate Clinton's many, many supporters, who already feel like their candidate has been unfairly maligned by the media and many in the Democratic leadership (e.g. Nancy Pelosi).
Of course, the best option would be for Clinton to withdraw unprompted, her campaign dying a natural death--but it seems like if this was going to happen, it would have happened by now.
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