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WASHINGTON - THAT gracious speech expected of Senator Hillary Clinton the night she lost the Democratic Party nomination race will be delivered tomorrow.
It will still be a qualified concession on the part of Mrs Clinton, 60, who was once the party's inevitable nominee.
Before thousands of supporters at an event here, she will express support for presumptive nominee Senator Barack Obama and ask for the party to be united. 'I will be speaking on Saturday about how together we can rally the party behind Senator Obama,' she told supporters in an e-mail yesterday.
At the same time, she is thought to be suspending - not shutting down - her campaign and is not expected to surrender the delegates she piled up during the race.
She is believed to be jockeying for the No. 2 position under Mr Obama, 46, who has turned his sights on the Nov 4 presidential election.
He said he was casting a 'wide net' for a running mate as he set up a high-profile vetting team, including former president John F. Kennedy's daughter Caroline. The other members are Mr Jim Johnson, who had helped Senator John Kerry pick his running mate in 2004, and Mr Eric Holder, a senior Justice Department official under former president Bill Clinton.
A running mate helps the nominee win the election, making up for his deficiencies, adding on his own voter constituencies and fund-raising abilities, but performs a marginal role thereafter as vice-president.
Mr Obama has no administrative experience. As a first-term senator, even his legislative experience is limited. In addition, he comes off weaker on matters of national security, compared to his Republican rival John McCain, a decorated Vietnam War hero.
The long-drawn nomination race also exposed Mr Obama's lack of heft in certain crucial voter constituencies - the blue-collar whites, the Latinos and the older white women.
Mrs Clinton, 60, has said privately that she is 'open' to becoming his vice-president and is moving to smooth over their long-running rivalry.
After her defiant speech on Tuesday was criticised for showing little warmth for the party's presumptive nominee, she held out an olive branch, praising him before an influential Jewish lobby on Wednesday.
As a possible running mate, her strength includes her wins in swing states such as Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida, which are key to winning the presidential election. And she is reputed to have the second-best fund-raising list in the United States, after Mr Obama.
On the other hand, she undermines his message of bringing change to America with her status-quo image. She has her own ambitions and may seek to magnify the role of a vice-president instead of playing second fiddle to him.
Her husband Bill is part of the 'package' she comes with. The former president, still a big crowd puller, is no fan of Mr Obama.
Some party stalwarts have weighed in on the issue, with former president Jimmy Carter describing it as a nightmare ticket, pointing out that surveys show half the voters have a negative view of Mrs Clinton.
Mrs Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, also said it would be a 'bad idea'.
A number of other names are also in the ring.
Mr McCain, who has challenged Mr Obama to join him for 10 town hall-style debates, is also under pressure to settle on a running mate.
Nearly two dozen people are being considered, include former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, Florida Governor Charlie Crist and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal.
bhagya@sph.com.sg
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