Obama claims delegate lead

[jefferson_dem]

Obama claims delegate lead

By: Mike Allen
Feb 6, 2008 08:24 AM EST



In a surprise twist after a chaotic Super Tuesday, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) passed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) in network tallies of the number of delegates the candidates racked up last night.

Clinton was portrayed in many news accounts as the night’s big winner, but Obama’s campaign says he wound up with a higher total where it really counts — the delegates who will choose the party’s nominee at this summer’s Democratic convention.

With the delegate count still under way, NBC News said Obama appears to have won around 840 delegates in yesterday’s contests, while Clinton earned about 830 — “give or take a few,” Tim Russert, the network’s Washington bureau chief, said on the “Today” show.

The running totals for the two, which includes previous contests and the party officials known as “superdelegates,” are only about 70 delegates apart, Russert said.

The bottom line is that the two are virtually tied.

Obama won 13 states, some of them smaller, and Clinton won eight.

On Wednesday morning, the battle was on to shape public perceptions about Tuesday.

The Clinton campaign said it was crunching its delegate numbers but was not sure it was correct that Obama got more.

The Obama campaign sent an e-mailed statement titled: “Obama wins Super Tuesday by winning more states and more delegates.”

Campaign Manager David Plouffe said: “By winning a majority of delegates and a majority of the states, Barack Obama won an important Super Tuesday victory over Sen. Clinton in the closest thing we have to a national primary.”

“From Colorado and Utah in the West to Georgia and Alabama in the South to Sen. Clinton’s backyard in Connecticut, Obama showed that he can win the support of Americans of every race, gender and political party in every region of the country,” Plouffe said. “That’s why he’s on track to win Democratic nomination, and that’s why he’s the best candidate to defeat John McCain in November.”

The Obama campaign attached an Excel spreadsheet containing “state-by-state estimates of the pledged delegates we won last night, which total 845 for Obama and 836 for Clinton — bringing the to-date total of delegates to 908 for Obama, 884 for Clinton.”

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0208/8358.html

[Saturday]

1. spin, spin, spin. n/t

[mckeown1128]

3. Yep,

Look how desperate he is.... He wins the most states.... He wins the most delegates..... how dare he try to claim victory... doesn't he know that Hillary wins no matter what the results are?! :sarcasm:

[Tellurian]

26. msnbc doesn't see it your way..Hillary ahead, the latest, by +97 delegates..

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/

[Marie26]

27. So why would Russert

say that Obama got more delegates on the Today show this morning? He presumably has access to the same numbers.

[Tellurian]

33. Ruseert can say anything he wants..The link is carved in stone..

[beachmom]

12. It's only spin if the numbers don't hold up. Number of delegates is what matters. nt

[berni_mccoy]

2. If true, the MSM better start updating their websites. I love how they call it a tie when

Obama's momentum is accelerating while Clinton's campaign is deflating.

[Scurrilous]

4. Great News!

:thumbsup:

[Nimrod2005]

5. President Obama!

[Tarc]

6. It is surprising that Team Obama claims victory?

I think the people with a shred of common sense will wait for something a bit more concrete than "...but Obama’s campaign says..."

:)

[joshcryer]

7. Uh, Hillary has the most delegates.

Hillary Clinton
Pledged: 632
Superdelegates: 193
Total: 825

Barack Obama
Pledged: 626
Superdelegates: 106
Total: 732

[niceypoo]

8. She is ahead in all counts

Once reality sinks in that she won super tuesday, the Obamites will start screaming their usual "she cheated" mantra.

[Apollo11]

9. VERY BAD NEWS for the Clinton Campaign

Obama has the delegates, the money and the momentum.

How can Hillary win without her Florida delegates?

Maybe Florida and Michigan should do-over? :eyes:

[joshcryer]

13. He doesn't have them all, he claimed victory before the counting was done.

It's incredible.

[beachmom]

16. I heard that FL and MI could still have caucuses. It only takes

the State Dem parties to do that. That way, the delegates would be viewed as fair and square.

[Indenturedebtor]

29. If they included their delegates without a fresh election

in those two states. I think I'm not alone in saying that I would quit the party. Not much that would make me say that, but that would do it. There never was a race in those two states, the only person that campaigned was HRC.

[TornadoTN]

36. I agree - that would push me over the edge

I fear this is going to happen though - this will make Gore v. Bush 2000 pale in comparison and it may destroy the party.

[Tom Rinaldo]

37. That is a lie. Both candidates held fundraisers there but only Obama advertized n/t

[leftynyc]

41. Let me get this straight

Because rules are rules, the delegates from FL and MI shouldn't be seated but it's perfectly okay with you if the rules regarding superdelegates stay in place and give Clinton her victory?

[William769]

10. Why not publicize the spread sheets?

I can say II am the King of Siam. Am I?

[Marie26]

24. Cause it's BS

[Raejeanowl]

11. I Am Missing The Math Here

But if Obama's camp is out there promulgating an actual untruth, it could backlash on him.

[underpants]

I agree

I don't see how this works but then I am not sure how Super Delegates work :shrug: I thought they were open to vote as they want

[Yossariant]

18. Some of them have endorsed candidates.

This site tells which superdelegates have endorsed candidates:
http://demconwatch.blogspot.com/2008/01/superdelegate-list.html

But, Obama is talking about pledged delegates, not superdelegates.

Note that CNN's delegate counts separate the pledged delegates from the superdelegates:
http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/primaries/results/scorecard/

[underpants]

20. Thanks-both of those still have Hillary in the lead

:shrug:

[joshcryer]

15. Yes, if the counting finishes today with Hillary on top (as expected), then he messed up.

He can't go around claiming a delegate lead when he doesn't have it!

[CarolNYC]

28. Well, you know, he's got to claim it sometime...

With the numbers in a bit of flux right now's the time. Once they're solid and he doesn't have the lead he loses his window to claim he does....or something like that...

[Marie26]

25. Yes they are

What's more disturbing is that two "news" organizations are promulgating an untruth. NBC made this "forecast" last night, & even then their numbers weren't the same as any other news channel. But OK, they have a night to correct things. If Russert is STILL reporting that Obama won more delegates, when that's known to be false, it's more like spin & propaganda.

[goldcanyonaz]

14. More Obama math.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

17. I'll take the BBC over politico. Here are their numbers, rather than regurgitation of a campaign's

spin, ala politico's National Enquirer style of reporting.

Thanks to TechBear_Seattle.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/629/629/7229830.stm


On edit, is the Obama campaign trying to make politico their own personal media outlet, kind of like Bush with FAUX?
:shrug:

[demokatgurrl]

21. That PHOTO! Please keep it around- we'll need it

I can never forget that from the last election. Sickening, truly sickening.:puke:

[Marie26]

23. It's Poltico & NBC

NBC makes the bogus "projections", Politico reports it as fact, then the Obama camp picks up bogus story & champions it. It's like a seamless machine. All this eventually (they hope) leaks into the MSM at large & effects the way that newspapers report the story.

[demokatgurrl]

19. WRONG.

Clinton 845
Obama 765
2,025 Needed

[Marie26]

22. MSNBC? No thanks.

I watched it; they spun everything that they could possibly spin to favor Obama & then the Obama camp picks it up & claims a victory. Every other news organization is reporting that Clinton has a lead in delegates.

[smoogatz]

30. What we learn here, if there was any doubt, is how fucked up

our whole dumbass primary system is. It shouldn't be this hard to figure out who's ahead.

[Kajsa]

40. Amen, Smoogatz!

Krickey!

I had a roaring headache last night just trying to
figure out which precincts had reported and how many delegates
were going for which candidate in CA.

" Winner take all"- "NO- No winner take all, candidates split the delegates"

Argh! :banghead:

Voting system- in great need of an overhaul!

Who in the hell are these "super delegates" and why are they more
"super" than the others?!?

[guruoo]

31. Clinton 783, Obama 709 according to CNN...

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/

[Mass]

34. Pledge Clinton: 590, Obama 603.

[guruoo]

42. Make that 823 Clinton to 741 Obama TOTAL delegates

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/

Here's the breakdown:
Hillary Clinton
Pledged: 630
Superdelegates: 193
Total: 823

Barack Obama
Pledged: 635
Superdelegates: 106
Total: 741

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/primaries/results/scorecard/

[Colobo]

32. Gobama!

[elixir]

35. It's dangerous for ANY candidate to claim a lead until it's CONFIRMED.

[Kajsa]

38. CNN- Clinton- 783 delegates Obama- 709 delegates

This is not over, by any means.


http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/primaries/results/scorecard/

[debatepro]

39. If it's true - this is huge!!!!!!!

This would be fantastic news. This isn't anymore spin than someone saying Clinton won NY, NJ, MA, and CA... (BTW - whoever the democratic nominee is will win those states) if it's true both are statements of fact.