The Morning After: Obama Still Leads in Delegate Count
By Rachel Kapochunas and Edward Epstein, CQ Staff
Hillary Rodham Clinton won three out of four last night, but the results did not shrink the delegate gap between Clinton and frontrunner Barack Obama .
Before Tuesday’s election, Obama led with 1,386 delegates, but Clinton was not far behind with 1,276 delegates, according to the Associated Press, which includes surveys on the preferences of unpledged “superdelegates.” Obama’s new total is 1,562 and Clinton’s is 1,461, as of Wednesday at noon according to the AP. So the difference between them is virtually unchanged. A total of 2,025 delegates are necessary to secure the Democratic nomination.
A total of 444 Democratic delegates were at stake in the March 4 contests. Clinton placed first in the Texas, Ohio and Rhode Island primaries, while Obama captured Vermont. But Democrats allocate delegates proportionally and therefore, a close second place for Obama still allowed him to add to his delegate total.
According to the AP, as of noon Wednesday, 10 delegates remained to be allocated in Texas, where voters held both a primary and a caucus Tuesday and two delegates had yet to be allocated in Ohio.
Just 36 percent of caucus results had been reported Wednesday morning. According to those totals, Obama was running ahead with 52 percent of the vote to 48 percent for Clinton.
In the Texas primary, Clinton received 51 percent of the vote to 47 percent for Obama.
A total of 126 delegates are determined by the Texas primary and 67 are determined by the caucus. The Texas secretary of state’s office reports that 65 delegates were allocated to Clinton according to the primary results and 61 were allocated to Obama. Were Obama to win the caucus, the possibility is likely that he will receive more delegates than Clinton, despite losing the state’s primary.
http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?parm1=1&docID=news-000002681875
Related
Clinton Needs to Secure `Overwhelming' Primary Wins (Update1)
By Hans Nichols and Catherine Dodge
Feb. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton may be unable to match Barack Obama in the party's delegate race even if she pulls off wins in the Texas and Ohio primaries next week.
While the math says she can still catch him, the odds are daunting because the Democratic Party doesn't have winner-take- all contests. Clinton instead may need to rely on chemistry, a chain-reaction set off by big wins in the March 4 races and in Pennsylvania in April that will persuade wavering delegates that she's the stronger candidate to face the Republican nominee in November.
``Because of proportional representation, if one candidate gets a significant lead of pledged delegates, it's difficult -- but not impossible -- for the trailing candidate to make up the delegate disadvantage...
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=ayraBSSaVF_w&refer=home
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