Has Terry Mac ordered candidates to drop out if they don't win on 2/3?

[KamaAina]

That's what it says here...

http://slate.msn.com/id/2094560/

(down near the bottom)
So, it's a long shot, and Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe has ordered candidates who don't win a state on Feb. 3 to quit the race. (At the Holiday Inn, Trippi (who had not yet been canned -Ed.) virtually promised to ignore McAuliffe.) But it's probably Dean's only shot....

Does the DNC chairman really have the right to order candidates to drop out? I mean, it's not like he ordered them in...

Note, too, that Dean might get shut out on 2/3, but pick up two of his better states (MI and WA) coming up immediately afterward on 2/7. So, why the 2/3 deadline? Just wondering...

[mlawson]

1. Maybe not the right, but he has clout, and lots of it.

And money, and control of other advantages. IMO, McAuliffe has picked his favorite. The one I predicted all along.

[montanacowboy]

2. Because Terry "Worthless" Mac

wants to make sure Kerry is their guy - Dean won't listen to this blow hard - why doesn't he ask Holy Joe to drop out?

McAuliffe has been a drag on the Democratic Party for a long time and the sooner this loser is gone the better.

[oasis]

3. We must begin to focus on Rove.$ will roll in as dead weight rolls out.

$2000,000,000 will be hard to match.

[SadEagle]

4. He wants the nominee first; he can't order anyone around, though.

All he can do is put up pressure. But the campaigns have perfectly legal rights to tell him to go take a hike, too.