Clinton campaign officials are saying the N.Y. senator and former first lady isn’t throwing in the towel tonight after all, as AP reported earlier today.

So is she going to concede or isn’t she?

According to CNN:

Sen. Hillary Clinton’s is "absolutely not" prepared to concede the race for the Democratic presidential nomination to Sen. Barack Obama, her campaign chairman said.

Terry McAuliffe rejected as "100 percent" incorrect an Associated Press report that Clinton is preparing to acknowledge that Obama has the delegates to win the nomination Tuesday night as the five-month Democratic primary process comes to a close.



Obama "doesn’t have the numbers today, and until someone has the numbers the race goes on," McAuliffe told CNN.

Clinton continues to fight Obama in the Democratic primary season, but the lengthy, sometimes brutal process — some 61 contests over six months — will end today as Montana and South Dakota hold primaries.

Only 31 pledged delegates are at stake in those two contests.

 

Obama is just 42 delegates shy of the 2,118 now needed to clinch the nomination., CNN reported.

But according to the AP: 

Once he reaches the magic number of 2,118, Clinton will acknowledge that he has secured the necessary delegates to be the nominee.

The former first lady will stop short of formally suspending or ending her race in her speech in New York City.

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.