Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton vowed to remain in the presidential
race until the last primaries next month, but she hinted that the
protracted contest with rival Barack Obama would end shortly thereafter.
"You don't walk off the court before the buzzer sounds," Clinton said
on CNN. "You never know, you might get a three-point shot at the end."
The former first lady spoke to the major news networks in Washington as
her campaign looked to parlay her lopsided victory in West Virginia
into a last-ditch effort to persuade superdelegates to give her
flagging candidacy another look.
Badly trailing Obama in fundraising and cash on hand, Clinton was
hosting some 50 of her top national fundraisers at her home May 14 to
seek their help in raising money to compete in the final five contests
in Kentucky, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Montana and South Dakota.
She faces a more than $20 million debt. Clinton owed $10 million at the
end of March, has made loans to her campaign totaling of $11.4 million
thus far and will more than likely end the primary season significantly
in the red.
On a conference call with reporters, campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe
said the campaign had pulled in a seven-figure fundraising haul online
May 13, but declined to offer more specific numbers.
"We have the resources to go forward," McAuliffe said. "We've opened
offices, we're up on TV, we have a full complement of staff and are
raising money. I'm comfortable with where we are today."
On CNN, Clinton said that she shouldn't have suggested in a newspaper
interview that Barack Obama was having trouble winning over
"hardworking ... white Americans."
Told that a top black supporter, Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., had
called the remark "the dumbest thing you could have possibly said,"
Clinton said "Well, he's probably right."
Obama is running to become the first black president.
On ABC News, Clinton said some voters may be discriminating against
Obama because he is black, but that there are probably an equal number
voting against her because she's a woman.
"There are people ... who have reluctance about a woman, who have
reluctance about an African-American, but thankfully those are a
relatively small majority," she said. "And I'm not sure that those
people would ever vote for one of us."





