As I write this, CNN has Clinton ahead of Obama by a margin of 82 delegates. MSNBC has Obama ahead of Clinton by 4 delegates.
Either way, it’s a very, very tight race, with many, many delegates still unaccounted for including some superdelegates. This thing could go undecided all the way to the convention, and be settled in a back room deal with a handful of superdelegates. Chairman of the National Committee, Howard Dean has indicated that if this seems to be the case, he will try to get the candidates to meet and resolve something beforehand, rather than have a fight lasting to the convention and making an easy target for Republicans.
I’m not sure I agree with Dean, however. The Republicans will solidify their candidate quickly, and will quickly rally behind him. The longer the Democrats take to choose a candidate, the more time the Republican machine has to wait before ramping up the personal attacks on one candidate. That means less time to run negative campaign ads against a Democratic candidate — though they have already been treating Clinton as the nominee and targeting her from that side of the aisle. The GOP is basically chomping at the bit to run against Clinton.
Regardless, I want Obama to put this thing away soon. With Clinton having to loan her campaign $5 million to try to keep up with the flood of contributions Obama got in January, one has to wonder if she is on the ropes… Obviously she is financially strapped, with staffers working for no pay. At the same time, could this be spun by the Clinton campaign as an underdog story? Something to think about.
At the same time Clinton is trying to bail her campaign out with her personal fortune, Obama has raised almost $6 million at the time I’m writing this… Just since the polls closed last night. I think it is abundantly clear that his momentum is trending upwards, and hers is trending downwards. Clinton is going to be focusing on the big states left up for grabs; Ohio and Texas. I think Obama will be close there, if not win them both, and I don’t think Clinton can compete with Obama’s all-terrain approach to getting delegates all over.
Yes. We Can. And we will.
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You forgot to end a parenthesis in the third paragraph, btw.
Yeah, I found it highly entertaining that Clinton had to put $5 MILLION towards her own campaign. Obama should be able to win in the Chesapeake primary. Let’s hope he gets it!