McGovern: Clinton, Obama joint meeting will not happen

HURON, S.D. — — Former presidential candidate George McGovern's plan to bring Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama together for a joint appearance will not happen, McGovern said today, as rumors swirled about such a meeting during Clinton's appearance here. McGovern's plan was aimed at bringing a peaceful close to the drawn-out campaign, but "I couldn't convince all parties," McGovern said by telephone this afternoon. McGovern didn't say which parties would not agree, but Sen. Hillary Clinton said in an interview last week that she agreed to his plan. While Clinton agreed to share a stage and campaign with Obama, she had no intention of dropping out of the race, she said. "I have accepted that. I have urged that," Clinton said during the interview last Friday. "I think the people in South Dakota deserve it." When told of Clinton's agreement to his plan, McGovern said, "I don't think that's the problem — it's a question of the two campaigns getting together on how it should be run." FIND MORE STORIES IN: Barack Obama | New York Times | Hillary Rodham Clinton | Montana | South Dakota | Richard Nixon | Mitchell | George McGovern | Corn Palace Until today, McGovern had hopes of such a historic joint campaign appearance taking place in South Dakota — perhaps at the Corn Palace in McGovern's hometown of Mitchell — in the days before Tuesday's last-in-the-nation primaries in Montana and South Dakota. McGovern's plan would have had both candidates appearing together, with each getting about 15 minutes to say what they would do as president. Both would then attend a $50-a-ticket reception. A key part of McGovern's plan: The candidates would have to agree not to attack each other. "I think once these primaries are out of the way which is next Tuesday, I would expect that sometime in the near term they will have to work out some accommodation," McGovern said. "There has been talk about Hillary carrying the fight all the way to the convention but I personally think it's unlikely." McGovern, the Democratic nominee for president in 1972 before losing to Richard Nixon, first put forth his plan for a peaceful resolution to the Clinton-Obama race in a May 13 opinion article in the New York Times. "It's just my own thoughts based on what I learned back in '72 when I was a candidate," McGovern said. "I didn't have that luxury of ending on a high note. Once it became clear I had the nomination won, some of the other candidates that I had defeated went all-out to try to defeat me even when we were in the convention itself. So I had inherited a very divided party. ... I don't want to see that happen again and I don't think it needs to happen." McGovern represented South Dakota in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1957-1961. He then served in the U.S. Senate from 1963-1981.