Delegate fight: The popular vote
Posted: Monday, May 05, 2008 9:13 AM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under:
2008, Delegates
In a New York Times op-ed, election analyst Rhodes Cook looks at how Clinton could catch Obama in the popular vote without counting FL and MI (and also not counting some of the caucus states). It's not easy but it means running up some HUGE margins in West Virginia and Kentucky, as well as pulling an upset in North Carolina.
Take a look at the list of undeclared superdelegates in California. The list is long, despite the fact Clinton won the state handily. "Clinton, stung last week by the defection of a prominent superdelegate, could lose the backing of more of these Democratic Party leaders and elected officials if she fails to make significant gains in the remaining month of presidential nominating contests, several California superdelegates said this weekend. Two of the five superdelegates aligned with Clinton who spoke at the annual California Democratic Convention here said they would reconsider their support if rival Barack Obama maintained his lead in elected delegates and the popular vote after the last contests on June 3,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
“Christopher Stampolis of Santa Clara, a superdelegate who endorsed Clinton after the Iowa caucuses, said that he remained in the New York senator's camp but that his commitment expired with the end of the primaries. ‘When it's done, all of us, whether we're committed or not, we're going to take a look’ at the final eight contests, said Stampolis, who until recently worked in external relations for a Bay Area environmental firm. ‘Our job is to represent the constituents who trusted us to win the White House.’”
“Garry Shay, a Los Angeles attorney, said that if Clinton remained about 150 pledged delegates behind Obama, the current estimated margin, he would have to ‘reassess the entirety of the situation.’ ‘It doesn't mandate me switching,’ he said, ‘but it does mandate me reconsidering.’”
Bloomberg's Al Hunt looks at Obama's desperate need for a substantial win with the world watching; he really hasn't had one since February.
Huffington Post’s Tom Edsall looks at Clinton's "nuclear" option when it comes to the delegates -- and that's forcing a seating of Florida and Michigan at the May 31 DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee meeting. But Edsall notes she will only have a sympathetic hearing at this meeting if she continues on a primary roll.
