PrintMay 21, 2008
Obama, Clinton Split Primary Wins
It was Hillary huge in Kentucky while Obama rolled up an impressive win in Oregon. And Obama passed something of a milestone in that he now as an absolute majority of pledged delegates - those delegates won in the primaries and caucuses.
It only buttresses his case that he deserves to be the nominee of the party:
Obama's top strategist, David Axelrod, said getting the pledged delegate majority was an "important milestone," but not the end of the trail.Neither candidate is expected to reach the 2,026 delegates needed to win the Democratic nomination.That means the race is likely to be settled by "superdelegates" -- party leaders and officials who will cast votes at the Democratic convention in August.Speaking in Iowa, where he won the first-in-the-nation caucuses, Obama told supporters, "it was in this great state where we took the first steps of an unlikely journey to change America.""The skeptics predicted we wouldn't get very far. The cynics dismissed us as a lot of hype and a little too much hope. And by the fall, the pundits in Washington had all but counted us out. But the people of Iowa had a different idea," he said.Obama continued to look to the general election, focusing his attacks as he has for the past week on Sen. John McCain, while commending Clinton for "her courage, her commitment and her perseverance."
Clearly, Obama is coming down the home stretch and approaching the finish line. Hillary is running out of arguments - and time. Only three primaries remain; Puerto Rico on June 3 with Montana and South Dakota 2 days later.
Will she quit? Probably the earliest she would exit is after the situation involving Florida and Michigan's delegates is settled. She has promised to see that their votes were counted and if the Democrats are smart, they will resolve this issue the last day in May when their rules committee meets.
If not then, it is expected that Obama will pass the magic delegate number of 2025 sometime in mid June. At that point, a quick and graceful exit by Clinton would give the party time to stitch itself back together so that the convention is the lovefest everyone hopes it to be.
The pressure on her will be enormous to get out. And yet, she may stay in it until the first ballot of the convention, hoping that Obama will make a fatal gaffe. It's not much of a strategy and probably unrealistic. It could come out that Obama was a commie spy in his youth and I doubt the Democrats would deny him the nomination.
Hence, expect an exit from the race by Clinton no later than July 1.
