As I noted last night, the DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee has solved the Florida and Michigan conundrums, at least pending any attempt by the Clinton to take the issue to the convention floor:
The deal prompted one of her chief advisers, Harold Ickes, a member of the rules committee himself, to declare that Mrs. Clinton’s fight may not be over, even though Mr. Obama’s advisers say he is only days away from gaining enough delegates to claim the nomination.
“Mrs. Clinton has instructed me to reserve her rights to take this to the credentials committee,” Mr. Ickes said before the final vote, raising the specter of a fight until that committee meets. His words drew cheers from Clinton supporters, including many who yelled, “Denver! Denver! Denver!” — implying that the fight could go all the way to the convention in that city.
Mr. Ickes said the outcome for Michigan was a hijacking of voters’ intent because it assigned delegates to Mr. Obama even though he did not win them as his name was not on the ballot.
That, of course, is because Obama, unlike Clinton, actually complied with the DNC’s ruling on the Michigan primary. But it’s really of no consequence. The Clinton campaign can threaten to take this to the convention floor and tear their party apart even further, but it’s fairly obvious that this race will be over within the next 72 hours.
Here’s the latest delegate count from RealClearPolitics including the 1/2 votes for Florida and Michigan:
Pledged Delegates
- Barack Obama — 1,722 delegates
- Hillary Clinton — 1,586 delegates
Obama +136
Total Delegates (new magic number is 2,118)
- 2,051 delegates (67 delegates needed to win)
- 1,875 delegates (243 delegates needed to win)
Obama +176
Including today’s Puerto Rico primary and Tuesday’s contests in Montana and South Dakota, there are 86 pledged delegates left, along with 179 superdelegates who remain, publicly at least, uncommitted. A total of 265 delegates. Barack Obama only needs to win 1/4 of the remaining delegates and he’s got the nomination.
It’s over Hillary, time to leave gracefully, assuming that’s even possible for you at this point.
