Delegate Updates

Tonight's primaries are likely to be a 50/50 split. Literally, with about 50 delegates going to each candidate (51 for Kentucky, 52 for Oregon).

So the real news on the delegate front may be elsewhere. Obama picked up 2 super-delegates to Clinton's 1 today. That's business as usual. More interesting is that 10 out of 18 pledged super-delegates for Edwards will now vote for Obama.

That means Obama's total delegate lead is inching up towards 200.

The NBC NEWS counts:
PLEDGED: Obama 1,602 to 1,444
SUPERDELEGATES: Obama 304.5 to 280.5
EDWARDS PL. DELEGATES: Obama 10 to 0
TOTAL: Obama 1,916.5 to 1,724.5 (Obama +192)

5 comments:

Julie said...

I read about this within five minutes of reading about Kennedy's brain tumor.

The good news doesn't make up for the bad, but it helps.

Mike said...

The thing I don't understand is why this race isn't considered a formality by now. Obama's total will be about 1,966 after tonight and that's very close to the magic total of 2,025 which doesn't include Michigan or Florida. If you include those states he'd be a bit further from 2,208 but still far enough ahead to guarantee a majority of the delegates.

JP Burke said...

It is basically a formality. But it can't be declared a formality because - within the party - the opponent has to concede defeat. You can't have party unity unless that happens, and you can't jump the gun.

So, you just wait while we spend more money on a primary that was already decided; money that would otherwise go to defeating the Republicans in November.

I've given up complaining about it, the same way you might give in and let someone do something stupid and hurt themselves because they just don't listen.

Julie said...

Plus, the media will continue hyping this stuff as long as it sells toothpaste. It probably won't stop until Clinton stops making a fool of herself.

Mike said...

Actually, my math was wrong. Clinton is expected to win Kentucky by a wide margin so she'll get about 2/3 of that state's delegates. Obama is expected to win Oregon but not by as great a margin. So Clinton will come out a few delegates ahead at the end of the evening.