We've heard this one before. I'll believe it when I see it:

Sen. Hillary Clinton will hold an event with supporters by Friday, likely ending her historic bid for the White House and ceding the Democratic nomination to Barack Obama, ABC News has learned.

Clinton's decision to leave the race ends a long, often bitter battle for the right to challenge Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in the general election.

Obama, D-Ill., who claimed victory after clinching the necessary delegates on Tuesday, will be the nation's first African American running with the nomination of one of the country's two major political parties.

If this is true, then there are a few possibilities as to why. 1. After telling her supporters to go to her website and give her their thoughts on what she should do from this point forward, she may not have gotten the response for which she was hoping. 2. She met with the Obama campaign and he offered to pay off her campaign debts in exchange for dropping out. 3. She met with the Obama campaign and he has agreed to make her his Vice Presidential running mate in exchange for dropping out. 4. All of the above.

Obama making Hillary his VP would be disastrous for him, but that's his problem. If he's stupid enough to actually put Bill and Hillary back into power and merely a breath away from the presidency should he win in November, so be it. It does not speak well to his judgment or his backbone.

Hat tip: Kathryn Jean Lopez

Update: Fox News is reporting that Hillary has told the members of her staff that Friday is their last day.

More on the story from Fox News' website:

Hillary Clinton plans to drop out of the Democratic presidential race Friday, a senior Clinton adviser told FOX News, after Barack Obama clinched the nomination Tuesday.

The New York senator and one-time favorite for the nomination of her party told her campaign staff Wednesday that Friday will be their last day, the adviser said.

Clinton also told about 20 House Democratic supporters on a conference call Wednesday afternoon that it was "time to bring the party together."

According to a senior Democratic source on Capitol Hill, she acknowledged there were "two wings in the party right now," and it was her obligation to "unite them."

Democratic sources also have said Clinton will suspend her campaign rather than close it down entirely. By suspending her campaign, Clinton would retain nominal control of her delegates and could continue to raise money to pay off campaign debts. She also would allow late-primary states to finish up the process of electing pro-Clinton delegates to the August convention.

When asked about being Obama's running mate, Clinton said she "was not campaigning for the position but will do whatever she is asked to do to help the party win in November," according to a senior Democratic source.

Two thoughts on the last paragraph. First, she most certainly was campaigning to be Obama's running mate. She has painted him into a corner. If he doesn't ask her, then her supporters will be furious. She got her supporters so hyped up and anti-Obama, that if she isn't selected, then it's because of a vast left wing, pro-Obama, sexist conspiracy. Hillary has created a rift so deep that there can be no unity without Hillary on the ticket.

Second, her tone here sounds quite different than it was last night. Last night, she was confident, proud, sure that she was not going anywhere, any time soon. Now, she sounds like she's been humbled a bit.

Update II: Allahpundit opines on Hillary's decision to drop out and how it plays into a possible Michelle Obama tape:

Compelling evidence that the Michelle Obama "whitey" tape is a hoax. If it exists, surely Hillary's people have seen it by now, and if it's as bad as all that they wouldn't be so hot to lay down their arms just yet.

I agree.