Obama Cuts Into Clinton's Delegate Lead Among Elected Officials

[AtomicKitten]

Obama Cuts Into Clinton's Delegate Lead Among Elected Officials
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a0OkW8Ml8ljw&refer=home

By Julianna Goldman and Catherine Dodge

March 14 (Bloomberg) -- Barack Obama has pulled almost even with Hillary Clinton in endorsements from top elected officials and has cut into her lead among the other superdelegates she's relying on to win the Democratic presidential nomination.

Among the 313 of 796 superdelegates who are members of Congress or governors, Clinton has commitments from 103 and Obama is backed by 96, according to lists supplied by the campaigns. Fifty-three of Obama's endorsements have come since he won the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses, compared with 12 who have aligned with Clinton since then. ``That's not glacial, that is a remarkable momentum,'' Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri, a superdelegate and Obama supporter, said in an interview. ``I don't think there is anything that will slow that down.''

* snip *

Obama's Lead

Both sides agree her chance to win the nomination rests on winning a significant majority of superdelegates because Obama is likely to maintain a lead of at least 150 pledged delegates - - those won in primaries and caucuses -- after the last contest is finished. If he does, Clinton, 60, would have to snag more than 70 percent of the remaining 334 or so superdelegates.

Clinton also has suffered defections, notably Georgia Representative John Lewis, a prominent civil-rights leader and early backer of the New York senator, who switched to Obama. Underlying the movement to Obama, 46, is some politicians' calculation that he'll be the strongest candidate to face Republican Senator John McCain in November. ``All along he has been the one person McCain does not want to run against and that is still true,'' said Senator Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat who endorsed Obama last month.

* snip *

Swing States

The same holds true in Ohio, which Clinton won, and Pennsylvania, where voter surveys say she is leading in the April 22 primary. Polls show Obama does as well or better than Clinton against McCain in those crucial swing states. In Iowa, a February Des Moines Register poll showed Obama beating McCain 53 percent to 36 percent, while McCain beat Clinton 49 percent to 40 percent.

That is one of the reasons he's won support from governors in Republican-leaning states, including Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas, Janet Napolitano of Arizona and Iowa's Chet Culver. ``It comes down to electability in red states like Iowa,'' Culver said this week.

Among pledged delegates, Obama has 1,390 to Clinton's 1,248, AP's unofficial estimate shows. A total of 2,025 delegates is needed for the nomination. Even if Clinton scores a net gain of 10 delegates in Pennsylvania, Obama can make that up with wins in smaller states such as North Carolina and South Dakota, which vote later.

[speedoo]

1. K&R, and bookmarked. nt

nt

[Botany]

2. "Superdelegates don't matter." M Penn

The quicker they come on board w/ Obama the
quicker we can move on to the general election.

So Obama now has the most votes, the most delegates,
the most states, and now he will have the most superdelegates.

[AtomicKitten]

4. I so agree.

We have work to do. The Rs are ginning up staying in Iraq, trying to drive up public sentiment to stay in, and all the while Ms. Flick has the race suspended in bullshit like a crappy jello mold.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

3. I'm beginning to notice a trend here.

[AtomicKitten]

5. A lovely trend.

:)

[mod mom]

6. Ohio still has a huge number of provisionals to count for watch for changes in delegate allocation:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5069064&mesg_id=5069064

[AtomicKitten]

7. ETA on this?

This makes me a teensy bit uncomfortable because it is reminiscent of the GOP holding back to see just what is needed for a particular result. Ugh.

[mod mom]

8. Election Count to begin March 25 and will know by April 3rd:

Election count starts March 25
BY THE ENQUIRER

HAMILTON CO. -- The Hamilton County Board of Elections expects to begin counting more than 12,000 provisional ballots March 25 and will know by April 3 whether any races are close enough to be subjected to an automatic recount. Ohio law requires the official count, which involves counting provisional ballots and retallying the ballots from Election Day, to begin between March 25 and 29 and be complete by April 4.

The results must be certified to the state April 8.

If the margin in any race is within one half of 1 percent of the total votes cast in that race, the race is subject to an automatic recount.


http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080312/NEWS01/803120426/1056/COL02

[Scurrilous]

9. K & R

:thumbsup: