Clinton for vice president boosters--"Vote Both"--fold shop, realizing Obama tapping Clinton.

The “Vote Both” drive–staffed by loyal former Clinton staffers–folds, realizing that booking Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) to be a keynote speaker at the Democratic convention means she is not on the list to be Obama’s running mate.

from “Vote Both”

Because of your work, Senator Obama asked Hillary to be his keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention! We hope you are as pleased as we are that he has tapped Senator Clinton to deliver one of the most important messages of that crucial week–the very role that Barack Obama had four years ago.

Regretfully, this means that Senator Hillary Clinton is no longer under consideration as Senator Obama’s running mate.

In case you had not seen, Adam Parkhomenko and I today emailed the over 40,000 “dream ticket” supporters who signed up at VoteBoth.com.

The email follows:

From: Adam and Sam, VoteBoth.com [mailto:info@voteboth.com]

Sent: Thursday, July 31, 2008 10:36 AM

Subject: We must ask ourselves

“The way to continue our fight now – to accomplish the goals for which we stand – is to take our energy, our passion, our strength and do all we can to help elect Barack Obama the next President of the United States.”

-Senator Hillary Clinton

Dear Friend,

Thank you for your continuing support as we have worked together to build the strongest Democratic ticket possible. Since April, tens of thousands of Vote Both supporters have petitioned, called, and written letters to the Obama campaign. And Senator Obama heard your enthusiasm and arguments for Senator Clinton and her leadership.

Because of your work, Senator Obama asked Hillary to be his keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention! We hope you are as pleased as we are that he has tapped Senator Clinton to deliver one of the most important messages of that crucial week–the very role that Barack Obama had four years ago.

Regretfully, this means that Senator Hillary Clinton is no longer under consideration as Senator Obama’s running mate.

While we all were working toward a different result, ultimately we and Barack Obama are working for the same eventual outcome–getting ready to take back the White House and bring our country the change Americans deserve and so desperately need. There is nothing more important than that.

Because it seems that Senator Obama has made his decision to offer the slot on the ticket to another candidate, we believe that continuing to ask him to pick Hillary is no longer helpful to our party’s chances of winning in November.

We worked for Hillary for a combined ten years, so we know how many of you may be feeling. And to those who are hesitant to support Obama right now, we urge you to keep giving him the chance to earn your vote. We are confident he will.

Because, when it comes down to it, even the most ardent Hillary-supporter must ask himself or herself, “Do I want John McCain sending our soldiers off to more wars, giving Big Oil free rein to gouge us at the pump, and letting ideology overrule decisions that should be made on the basis of science and health?”

No. Never.

As Hillary said, “The way to continue our fight now – to accomplish the goals for which we stand – is to take our energy, our passion, our strength and do all we can to help elect Barack Obama the next President of the United States.”

We accept that charge and will do everything we can to help him win. We hope you will continue to fight with us to put our country back on track.

Sincerely,

Adam Parkhomenko & Sam Arora

Co-founders