Clinton's website: you need 2208, not 2025!
Tue May 06, 2008 at 12:56:22 PM PDT
When we spend every waking hour calculating delegate scenarios and pondering exactly when Obama will get the majority of pledged delegates, we--as well as every single other media apparatus out there--is using 2025 as the number of delegates needed to clinch the "presumptive nominee" status.
You can see this at the top of the DailyKos frontpage, at CNN, at Fox (just...ignore the headlines and go to the delegate counter so you don't throw up), and MSNBC.
The Clinton campaign, however, is sending a very clear signal that they are intending on taking this all the way to the convention and staging a credentials fight. Hillary Clinton's "fact site" about Democratic delegates said you need 2208! That, of course, is the total number of delegates that would have been required if Michigan and Florida were being seated.
More below.
At the very top of the so-called "Delegate Hub":
As more voters make their choice for the Democratic nomination, there is growing interest in the facts and myths about the race to reach 2208 delegate votes - the number required for a candidate to secure the nomination with Florida and Michigan included.
If you needed any more proof that the Hillary trainwreck has no intention of ending tomorrow, June 4th, or any other day besides an all-out convention floor fight, there you go.
As I wrote
The Obama campaign is claiming, without precedent or justification, that automatic delegates (commonly referred to as "super delegates") should switch to Sen. Obama en masse based on arbitrary metrics, with the aim of tilting the delegate balance in his favor. The fact is: no automatic delegate is required to cast a vote on the basis of anything other than his or her best judgment about who is the most qualified to be president.
Yes, because being the pledged delegate leader, being the leader in contests won, and even (disputedly) in the popular vote are all "arbitrary metrics." Sure. That point notwithstanding, however, Clinton's own website indicates clearly that it will not matter if superdelegates start tilting toward Obama after the primary contest is over. Rather, it seems we can be sure that Hillary Clinton will still be attempting to assassinate Barack Obama's character and make him "unelectable" even if the party leaders hate her for it.
The Clinton campaign has always been about staying alive just one more day and facing the consequences later. No reason to expect that won't continue all the way until the delegates vote.