Bill Clinton admits Hillary's end is near

June 3, The Sydney Herald Morning

Hillary Clinton's last-ditch campaign for Democratic leaders to jettison their support for the party's White House front-runner Barack Obama looked to be coming to the end of the road today.

Ahead of the last nominating contests tomorrow in Montana and South Dakota, even the former first lady's husband hinted at imminent defeat as the party shifts gears to take on Republican John McCain.

"I want to say also that this may be the last day I'm ever involved in a campaign of this kind," former president Bill Clinton told a rally of his wife's supporters in South Dakota, ABC and NBC reported.

"I thought I was out of politics, till Hillary decided to run. But it has been one of the greatest honours of my life to go around and campaign for her for president," he said.

The Clinton campaign said she would hold an election night "celebration" tomorrow in her home state of New York, not in Montana or South Dakota.

According to New York newspaper Newsday, Clinton is to huddle with advisers and her husband at her upstate home in Chappaqua to monitor the final results and decide whether and how to end her campaign.

"The only real counsel to Hillary is Bill; it's not a wide circle, so we're not sure what they'll do," one of Clinton's top supporters in New York was quoted as saying.

But fresh from a two-to-one victory over Obama in Puerto Rico Clinton told The Washington Post she may challenge a decision by Democratic leaders on convention delegates from Michigan and Florida.

"We reserve the right to do it. But I haven't made a decision yet," Clinton was quoted as saying, leaving open the prospect of a struggle all the way to the party's August nominating convention in Denver, Colorado.

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photo: Resigned to losing ... Bill Clinton, pictured with his Democratic presidential candidate wife. Hillary Clinton. (Getty Images)