Clinton's refusal to quit in 2008 haunts her in 2016
While some allies want her to nudge Sanders out, others say he's only behaving like she did eight years ago.
PHILADELPHIA, PA – In the wake of her victories in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut and Delaware, some of Hillary Clinton’s top operatives are ready for Bernie Sanders to call it quits.
But Clinton’s own refusal to give up in 2008, even after she had no real path forward, remains an obstacle to ramping up that pressure.
Indeed, some veterans of Clinton’s 2008 campaign are urging empathy and space for Sanders, emphasizing that the decision to slog on is not about having a viable path forward — it’s about feeling that you’ve gone as far as you can go.
At rallies, “women would literally grab her hand say, ‘don’t you dare drop out, don’t you quit,’ ” recalled Howard Wolfson, Clinton’s former communications director, of the 2008 end game. “Your head told you the math didn’t add up, but your heart said, we’re continuing to win states, we’re continuing to draw big crowds, and it’s very hard to walk away from a contest when you have millions of supporters who are clearly still determined to help you get elected.”
Like others in Clinton’s 2008 brain trust, Wolfson said he understands why Sanders wants to keep fighting. “You begin to conclude this is a cause that’s bigger than yourself,” he explained of the campaign’s mindset in the spring of 2008. “I’m sure there are the same sets of pressure on the Sanders camp today.”
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-delegate-quit-222503#ixzz47bNBJJbo
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