Hillary Clinton On What's Next
After her win in West Virginia Tuesday, Sen. Hillary Clinton spoke with CBS News anchor Katie Couric about what's next - including what it would take for her to wind up in the White House.
Katie Couric: Nearly a third of your supporters in both West Virginia and Pennsylvania said if you are not the nominee they will vote for John McCain in November. So do you think staying in this race helped John McCain the most?
Hillary Clinton: No, not at all. In fact, I believe it would hurt our eventual nominee if it is not me, if I were to get out of this race before everyone's had a chance to vote. Because it would appear as though I had been somehow pushed out. People had been deprived their right to vote.
We will finish this process. We will finish the elections that are still to come. We will seat Michigan and Florida delegates, I hope by May 31st. And then we'll have a nominee, or very close to it, and we'll know who the nominee is. And I will be in a very strong position, as will Sen. Obama to make the case we fought the hard fight, everybody participated, now it's time to coalesce behind our nominee and I think we'll get a lot of people to agree with that.
Katie Couric: A lot of people were struck last week when you noted that that you had won the support of hard-working Americans, white Americans. Using those words, do you think that was dangerously close to playing the reverse race card?
Clinton: No not at all. I was just referring to an AP article. You know, people have voted for me because they think I'm a better fighter and a better champion. You know there's no doubt that we've had an incredibly historic campaign. Obviously race and gender are part of it because of who the candidates are but people have been voting based on who they thought would be the better president.
Couric: Can you lay out for me, right now, Sen. Clinton, the scenario where over the next several weeks you get enough delegates to win this nomination?
Clinton: Certainly. I think that we'll do well in these upcoming contests. I think we will get delegates out of Michigan and Florida. I think the super delegates are not bound to support anyone. They don't have to stay with any person. They can make a decision today and change it tomorrow. And their job, according to the rules of the DNC, is to exercise independent judgment to determine who would be the best president - and who would be the better stronger candidate against john McCain.
Couric: so today as we speak, you still expect to be the Democratic nominee for President of the United States?
Clinton: I do. I absolutely do expect to be the nominee.
Watch more of the interview on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric tonight at 6:30 p.m. EDT.