WASHINGTON - Barack Obama all but erased Hillary Clinton's once-imposing lead among national convention superdelegates on Friday and won fresh labor backing as elements of the Democratic Party began coalescing around the Illinois senator for the fall campaign.
Obama picked up the backing of nine superdelegates, including Rep. Donald Payne of New Jersey, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus who had been a Clinton supporter.
In addition, the American Federation of Government Employees announced its support for Obama. The union claims about 600,000 members who work in the federal and Washington, D.C., governments.
Obama, who won a convincing victory in the North Carolina primary and lost Indiana narrowly on Tuesday, has been steadily gaining strength in the days since.
Clinton also gained two superdelegates.
The developments left the former first lady with 271.5 superdelegates, to 271 for Obama, according to an Associated Press count. Little more than four months ago, on the eve of the primary season, she held a lead of 169-63.
In the overall race for the nomination, Obama leads with 1,859.5 delegates, to 1,697 for Clinton. Obama is just 165.5 delegates short of the 2,025 delegates needed to win it.
NBC's national delegate count currently stands at 1426 for Clinton and 1590 for Obama. NBC’s estimated superdelegate count stands at 277.5 for Clinton and 269 for Obama.
[There are differences in how news organizations count delegates, how they award superdelegates, how they account for states that have held caucuses but have not yet chosen their delegates, and how they project the apportionment of delegates within Congressional districts where the vote was close. The Associated Press and NBC news conduct separate delegate counts.]
The question now becomes how can Clinton bow out of the race with some form of dignity and tact. Her campaign is already running on fumes, with Clinton lending another $6.4 million last month, on top of the $5 million she lent to herself last year. There have even been some rumors of Obama bailing Clinton out of her presidential campaign debts. I can't say what Hillary Clinton wants now--either still the big nominee prize, or enough political influence to negotiate a deal with Obama in return for her support. We're getting close to the end of the Democratic primary, and this latest news of Obama erasing Clinton's lead with the super-delegates only reinforces this eventual ending, and the need for both candidates to make the deal.
No comments:
Post a Comment