McAuliffe Denies AP Hillary Concession Report

Hillary Clinton’s campaign Chairman Terry McAuliffe is saying that Hillary Clinton is not conceding anything tonight, and that the campaign never authorized anyone to tell The Associated Press anything to that effect.

McAuliffe was asked this morning on the "Today" show, “If Barack Obama reaches that number today or tomorrow do you believe that Senator Clinton is prepared to concede?” and he replied, “Yeah, I think that if Senator Obama gets the numbers, I think Hillary Clinton will congratulate him, and call him the nominee.” But that’s a far cry from Hillary actually conceding.

However, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell told Brian Kilmeade on Fox radio this morning that Hillary would be campaigning for Barack Obama before the convention.

The AP report follows:

Hillary Rodham Clinton will concede Tuesday night that Barack Obama has the delegates to secure the Democratic nomination, campaign officials said, effectively ending her bid to be the nation's first female president.

The former first lady will stop short of formally suspending or ending her race in her speech in New York City. Obama is 40 delegates shy of clinching the nomination, but he is widely expected to make up the difference Tuesday with superdelegate support and votes in South Dakota and Montana. Once he reaches the magic number of 2,118, Clinton will acknowledge that he has secured the necessary delegates to be the nominee.

She will pledge to continue to speak out on issues like health care. But for all intents and purposes, the two senior officials said, the campaign is over.

Most campaign staff will be let go and will be paid through June 15, said the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to divulge her plans.

The advisers said Clinton has made a strategic decision to not formally end her campaign, giving her leverage to negotiate with Obama on various matters including a possible vice presidential nomination for her. She also wants to press him on issues he should focus on in the fall, such as health care.

Universal health care, Clinton's signature issue as first lady in the 1990s, was a point of dispute between Obama and the New York senator during their epic nomination fight.