Reps. Rangel, Frank and Dicks leaned on Hillary to drop bid

Congressional sources tell Fox that three high-powered House Democrats leaned on Hillary Clinton to end her campaign this week, even though she was at first vague about the timeline for her departure.

The three Democrats who prodded Clinton to formulate and then announce a specific exit plan were, according to Democrats familiar with the situation, Reps. Charles Rangel of New York, Barney Frank of Massachusetts, and Norm Dicks of Washington.

All three were on a conference call Clinton conducted with about 20 House Democrats who supported her campaign.

The consensus among House Democrats was that Clinton had to decide what to do "sooner rather than later."

On the call, Clinton declined to commit to a specific date to suspend her campaign or endorse Obama. Lawmakers agreed not to discus the conference calls with reporters, but Rangel, Frank and Dicks made separate appeals to Clinton to come up with a plan to leave the race and to begin to set it in motion.

Early Wednesday Rangel voiced displeasure with Clinton's speech on Tuesday because it failed to acknowledge Obama's historic achievement in capturing enough delegates to win the nomination.

Dissatisfaction with Clinton's speech led to intensified pressure for her to withdraw so the party could begin focusing on "unity."

And while Clinton pledged to make the moves to begin unifying the part, the of lack a specific date caused Rangel, Franks, and Dicks to step up the pressure.