Here's the quote that's sure to make ripples in the American political pond:

"U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama talks about 16 months. That, we think, would be the right timeframe for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes."

Who said it? Iraq's Prime MInister, Nuri al-Maliki. What was the context? An interview with Germany's popular magazine Der Spiegel. This can't be what John McCain wants to hear, especially with Obama about to arrive in Iraq, and then make his way to Germany. It's just more evidence of how McCain's dare is about to backfire. More Maliki:

"The Americans have found it difficult to agree on a concrete timetable for the exit because it seems like an admission of defeat to them. But it isn't."

Here's the Obama campaign's response, as delivered by Susan Rice:

"Senator Obama welcomes Prime Minister Malaki's support of a 16 month timeline for the redeployment of U.S. combat brigades. This represents an important opportunity to transition to Iraq responsibility, while restoring our military and increasing our commitment to finish the fight in Afghanistan."

Tonight, at 9pm CST, Dr. Ron Pal will end his presidential campaign, according to a report by ABC News: (and as predicted by our reader, Jo)

Rep. Ron Paul's presidential campaign, a pugnacious, ideological crusade against big government and interventionist leanings in the Republican party, will officially end Thursday at a rally outside the Texas GOP's convention, ABC News has learned.

The new phase of the revolution officially begins with a speech tonight in Houston and a Web video to be posted on his site, officially ending Paul's presidential campaign and freeing up the more than $4.7 million in campaign cash for investment in a new advocacy group, The Campaign for Liberty.

What the hell am I supposed to do now?

Covering Ron Paul's campaign has been some of the best fun I've had here on The PM, and his supporters challenged me and made me a better writer. After the jump, some highlights of that coverage. If you come back at 9pm CST, 10 EDT, you'll see the speech live in the player below.
Watch live video from Ron Paul 2008 on Justin.tv

Clinton campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe said "absolutely not" when asked by CNN just before 11:30 a.m. today, if Hillary Clinton will be conceding to Barack Obama tonight.

"They are 100 percent reporting incorrectly," McAuliffe said when asked if AP was misreporting the story.

According to AP, Clinton will acknowledge that Obama has the number of delegates needed to clinch the Democratic nomination if - or rather, when - he reaches the number of delegates needed. The AP cited two senior campaign officials.

But McAuliffe said he didn't know who those two officials were that formed the basis for that story - "anyone can be an official" - and forcefully refuted any notion that Clinton was going to give up tonight, even after the primary results come in from Montana and South Dakota.

"I can unequivocally say as chairman of this campaign that until someone has numbers, this nomination fight continues on," McAuliffe said of Obama, adding that Clinton will continue working the superdelegates to get them to support her.

"The AP story is incorrect. Senator Clinton will not concede the nomination this evening," reads the brief campaign statement.

Campaign chief strategist Harold Ickes told MSNBC that "nothing could be further from the truth," in response to the reports of Clinton's concession. He was up on Capital Hill meeting with lawmakers Monday, and said neither Obama or Clinton will reach the magic delegate number of 2,118 tonight.

So what will we hear from Clinton if Obama, who is less than 40 delegates short of reaching 2,118, does in fact reach that number tonight?

Ickes on MSNBC: "When you hear it, you'll hear it."

Huffington Post:

Hillary Clinton has summoned top donors and backers to attend her New York speech tomorrow night in an unusual move that is being widely interpreted to mean she plans to suspend her campaign and endorse Barack Obama - if not that night, within a day or two.

Obama and Clinton spoke Sunday night and agreed that their staffs should begin negotiations over post-primary activities, according to reliable sources. In addition to seeking Obama's help in raising money to pay off some $20 million-plus in debts, Clinton is known to want Obama to assist black officials who endorsed her and who are now taking constituent heat, including, in some cases, primary challenges from pro-Obama politicians.

Well, obviously, I would like her to go to the convention, as it would not only be great for the Republicans, but it would also be great political theater. And, as it happens, I write for a blog, so that sounds just fine and dandy.

But hey, a close second would be wiping out Barack Obama's campaign coffers (or his ability to fundraise that amount). That also has a side benefit of permanently annoying plenty of Obama supporters and continuing the rancor.

But I could also see her going on with a bang up speech of defiance relying on the popular vote, disenfranchised voters, etc., etc.

Commenters, stake your claim. Concession or defiance?

A week which saw the candidates go back and forth over the issue of foreign policy judgment came to a close today with a battle over the number of troops in Iraq. Sen. John McCain was the victim of a verbal gaffe this time as he incorrectly stated that the United States had drawn back to pre-troop surge force levels in Iraq.

"I can tell you that it is succeeding. I can look you in the eye and tell you it's succeeding. We have drawn down to pre-surge levels. Basra, Mosul and now Sadr City are quiet and it's long and it's hard and it's tough and there will be setbacks."

In reality, only three of the five surge brigades have been withdrawn from Iraq with a total U.S. troop presence of 155,000, twenty-five thousand more than the level before the surge. The Obama campaign hastened to point out the irony of Sen. McCain getting an Iraq fact wrong. McCain has been challenging Obama to visit Iraq and find out first-hand the facts on the ground there after Obama had a few factual slip ups of his own on the campaign trail. But McCain's response was swift and sharp. McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds issued a caustic statement from the campaign following an Obama campaign press conference featuring Sen. John Kerry which was hastily called to spotlight the McCain flub.

"What informed people understand, John McCain included, is that American troops are not even close to Surge levels. Three of the five Army 'Surge' brigades have been withdrawn and additional Marines that were initially deployed for the 'Surge' have come home as well. Talk about a political stunt, it's sending out campaign surrogates to parse words about a topic Barack Obama has no experience with, and has shown zero interest in learning about."

The mix up could not have come at a worse time for McCain, who had been scoring strong points against Obama on the question of foreign policy experience and had him retreating from some of his previously stated positions. But, McCain's campaign has become known for its rapid fire, indignant responses, which it demonstrated again today. The campaign hopes that voters will see McCain's gaffes as just that, mistakes; while wondering whether Obama's are a result of a fundamental lack of experience on the world stage.

There's been no end to speculation of why Hillary Clinton is refusing to drop out of the race despite all signs that she has no chance to win the nomination. She's angling for a veep spot, she's positioning herself for 2012, she's hoping for an Obama gaffe of epic proportions, her 'off' switch is broken. Well let the speculation end, because Hillary's going to tell us herself. She has penned an op-ed for New York's Daily News with the headline 'Why I Continue To Run.'

First she apologizes, sort of, for her mind-boggling RFK comment, then she defends her campaign's sticktoitiveness:

I am not unaware of the challenges or the odds of my securing the nomination - but this race remains extraordinarily close, and hundreds of thousands of people in upcoming primaries are still waiting to vote. As I have said so many times over the course of this primary, if Sen. Obama wins the nomination, I will support him and work my heart out for him against John McCain. But that has not happened yet.

I am running because I believe staying in this race will help unite the Democratic Party. I believe that if Sen. Obama and I both make our case - and all Democrats have the chance to make their voices heard - in the end, everyone will be more likely to rally around the nominee.

Read the whole article here, and then tell us what you think.

CNN reports that talks are currently underway to end the Democratic race. As I mentioned yesterday, one scenario puts Hillary on the ticket as V.P. Here's the video.



Update: I'd started to wonder why CNN seemed to have taken this story out of rotation, and had no mention of it on its webstie. TPM now has both the Clinton and Obama camps down as saying that CNN's story was bunk: No formal talks.

Sen. Hillary Clinton put recent media speculation that she may drop out of the Democratic primary race to rest with her victory speech following the Mountain State primary last night. More properly put, the voters of West Virginia did. Lopsided is not strong enough of a word to describe the magnitude of Clinton's win in West Virginia. She bested her rival Sen. Barack Obama, by 41 percentage points, 67-26. The rout was complete. Clinton won every single county in the state, most by more than 20 points, as Obama was only able to break above 40% in one county. Clinton won men and women, churchgoers and non-churchgoers, college educated and non-college educated, rich and poor, all by large margins.

At her campaign victory rally, Clinton delivered her victory address in understated tones, but the implications in her rhetoric came through loud and clear. She still believes that she is the stronger candidate to face Sen. John McCain in the general election, and she intends to continue campaigning until the primary calendar is complete.

"There are some who have wanted to cut this race short. They say, "give up, it's too hard, the mountain is too high," but here in West Virginia, you know a thing or two about rough roads to the top of the mountain. We know from the Bible that faith can move mountains and, my friends, the faith of the Mountain State has moved me. I am more determined than ever to carry on this campaign until everyone has had a chance to make their voices heard."

Face Off returns! Two of our writers will be posting separate pieces on a hot-button topic. You can check out both and then vote for the one that speaks to you and aligns with your views.

Today the topic is Hillary: Should she drop out?

Check out today's posts:


Denise Williams writes:

[A] reason to stay is the situation with the rules-breaking Florida and Michigan. Clinton's advocacy (albeit selfish) for these two "disenfranchised" states keeps the heat on to find an equitable solution to seating their delegates in August. Without her continued pressure on Obama and the DNC, voters in these two states may be put off enough to stay home in November or go to McCain.

Continue reading Hillary Should Stay In...

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David Knowles writes:

Last night in West Virginia, Hillary Clinton came away with an impressive 41-point win over Barack Obama. She shaved his popular vote lead by roughly 140,000 votes, and used her surrogates to continue hammer away on the point that Obama can't win with poor, undereducated white voters. The spin from Camp Clinton is that all of this matters in her race race for the nomination with Obama. But the math -- Oh, the dreaded math! -- speaks otherwise.

Continue reading Hillary Should Drop Out...