Political Insider: Is Clinton's Jewish Support Starting to Erode?

Are Sen. Hillary Clinton’s top Jewish supporters jumping ship as her once-unsinkable primary campaign lists badly?

Democratic insiders say most are staying where they are, for now – but that doesn’t mean they aren’t talking about when to end a campaign that some worry may now be playing into Republican hands.

Conversations with several leading Democrats and Clinton backers in recent days point to ferment in the ranks.

Big financial backers of the campaign aren’t backing out – largely because most have already maxed out on donations for the primaries.

But there is talk among even some strong and early Clinton backers about exit strategies.

“There have been meetings and calls,” said one. “I don’t see people getting out at this stage, at least not at the higher levels, but there is a lot of concern.  When do you decide a campaign is untenable? When do you decide that continuing to fight just hurts the party? And who’s going to tell the candidate?”

The discussions have intensified as Sen. Barack Obama picks up strength in Clinton’s “firewall” states of Ohio and Texas, which vote on March 4,  and after he cut deeply into her base of support in the Wisconsin primary.

And they come amid signs many Democratic superdelegates are starting to shift toward the Illinois senator.

Hopes for a big win among superdelegates – party official and political office holders who are not bound by primary results – are a key element in the effort to revive the Clinton campaign, along with big wins in Texas and Ohio. Early signs of a shift to Obama or to “uncommitted” status are bad news for the Clinton rescue effort.

Don’t look for wholesale desertions in the next week or so as Obama and Clinton mount major efforts in Ohio and Texas.

“The fast majority of Clinton’s supporters will hang with her and give her a chance to reverse the momentum” in those states, said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics.

But if she loses or wins one or both primaries by a hair, “some will reconsider at that point,” he said.  “That will only be early March, after all; there’s plenty of time for the party to reunite and get ready for the August convention.”

In the end, Sabato said, the onetime frontrunner will have no choice but to listen to Democratic primary voters.

“The Clintons are too smart to press the self-destruct button, for themselves and their party,” he said.

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