RealClearPolitics reports that Barack Obama is 50 delegates away from the 2025 required for nomination. When he reaches his magic number, does that mean that Senator Clinton will be forced to withdraw, and that our long national nightmare will be over? Not so fast.
RCP gives Obama 1976 delegates. I can't resist pointing out that that designates the year in which Jimmy Carter was elected. But that number is the sum of pledged delegates won in primaries and caucuses (1659) and superdelegates who have announced their choice (317). Now the pledged delegates are more or less bound to vote for Obama; but the superdelegates can do whatever they please when they please, regardless of what they told CNN. There is always the possibility, however remote, that Senator Clinton can persuade enough superdelegates to come over to her side. That is what she is playing for, and I think this means that she is in it all the way to the convention floor.
And the Clintons have an argument.
"She is winning the general election today and he is not, according to all the evidence," Clinton said. "And I have never seen anything like it. I have never seen a candidate treated so disrespectfully just for running. Her only position was, "Look, if I lose I'll be a good team player. We will all try to win but let's let everybody vote and count every vote.'"
Clinton also strongly criticized the media, saying that ever since Iowa they have been against his wife, making him feel as though he was living in a "fun house." As he concluded his thoughts on how this election has been handled, he again went back to the media's choice of coverage.
"If you notice, there hasn't been a lot of publicity on these polls I just told you about," Clinton said. "It is the first time you've heard it? Why do you think that is? Why do you think? Don't you think if the polls were the reverse and he was winning the electoral college against Sen. McCain and Hillary was losing it, it would be blasted on every television station? You would know it wouldn't you? It wouldn't be a little secret. And there is another Electoral College poll that I saw yesterday had her over 300 electoral votes, yeah. She will win the general election if you nominate her. They're just trying to make sure you don't."
It's nice to know that the Clintons finally know what it is like to be looking down the business end of a hostile press. But Bill might well be right that Hillary, and not Barack, is the candidate who can win in November.
It's hard to imagine how the Clintons can win this argument. I have been arguing that they are really playing for 2012. But that assumes that they grasp present realities. I may have been assuming too much.
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