Obama Campaign: 147 Delegates To Go
Susan Davis reports on the presidential race.
Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign gained an additional three superdelegate endorsements so far today, putting him 147 delegates shy of the 2,025 needed to secure the nomination, according to a count offered by Obama campaign manager David Plouffe.
One of the endorsements came from former Democratic National Committee Chairman and former Colorado Gov. Roy Romer, who announced his decision on a conference call with reporters today.
“It was a hard decision for me because I have great personal affection for Sen. Clinton but the business of politics is finding a way to gain the vibrancy in this country that we used to have,” Romer said.
The former governor pushed his position that now is the time for superdelegates to get off the fence and endorse Obama so he can secure the nomination and transition to a general election strategy.
Asked if he believes Sen. Hillary Clinton should suspend her campaign, Romer said he would not make such a call, but noted that the delegate math was compelling and that Obama’s lead “cannot be overcome.”
“It’s obvious that’s for her to decide as she looks at the landscape of the facts she faces,” Romer said, “The sooner we can make it clear I think it will help her in whatever decision she will make.”
Romer estimated that Obama was well-positioned to make the West, including Colorado, highly competitive in a general election campaign against Sen. John McCain. Romer said he was in Colorado last weekend and that local pols were pressing him to endorse. “They were saying, ‘Where are you, Roy? We want to know,’” he said, adding that it became “obvious that it would be helpful if I made my position known.”
Oh man, where are the first nazis?
Even Karl Rove says Hillary would beat McCain in the electoral college. In the next few weeks some of those superdelegates may revert back to Hillary or at least to undecided, especially the active officeholders, with constituents who vote. The Obama stampede, never really did materialize. Even though the establishment press has annointed Obama nominee, the delegate flood has been a trickle. Before those delegates vote for Obama at the convention, there just might be a vote to seat the Florida and Michigan delegations. Welcome to party politics; somewhat different than an editorial staff board meeting.
So, uh, let me get this straight, John. You’re predicting that superdelegates are going to switch from Obama to Clinton when Obama is at his highest in months, despite the fact that NONE of them switched from Obama to Clinton when Obama was at his absolute lowest just after Pennslyvania? OK…
John Reilly — you said it…the stampede didn’t materialize at all. Just a slow trickle of new supers-. The Dems will only seat MI and FL delegates after they already know the outcome in advance. What a joke!
John Reilly, I hope you vote for Obama in the general elections. Hillary should have done much better if it was not for her stupid campaign staffers. the only mistake she (or Bill) made was to choose this group of highly paid professionals who just cared about themselves.
It is over, but do not feel bad!
Obama and his superdelegates are now engaged in a desperate end run game to prevent Sen Clinton from winning the presidential nomination at the conclusion of the presidential nomination process.
This end run maneuvring is the reason for the superdelegate endorsements on Friday, Saturday, Monday, and today, and this subversion will continue in repudiation of the Democratic nomination process.
Obama and his superdelegates have chosen to take the Democratic Party on the path to a train wreck in November. This is entrenching votes for McCain. Obama will crash and burn in November if he swipes the nomination from Sen. Clinton.
“OBAMA BACKERS MAKE THEIR THREAT” - Executive Intelligence Review - “Those who are attempting to shut down the Clinton campaign and control this Presidential election have no allegiance to (the) Democratic Party, or to the United States.”
http://www.larouchepub.com/other/2008/3520threat_to_clinton.html
Whitewater scandal would kill any Clinton hopes if she was the nominee. Guilt was proven.
In the last month Obama has added 3 times as many superdelegates as Clinton. That’s enough of a flood for me. This race will be officially over before the end of the month. That’s why Intrade has Clinton with an 8% chance.
Obama what a joke.When will his side show come back.The REV WRIGHT Tour.It seems to have worked.After the planed break up.The REV Wright has not said a peep.That move from Obama was his best move so far.I got to give it to him this guy is good.
Bess’I really think we need all of this change that Obama offers us. When he is our presadent I hope he well change the country and get all this change going our way. That would be a mircale.
crat3, what do you mean by “if he (Obama) swipes the nomination?” Looks to me like he has won more states, more delegates, more votes, more funds, more new voters…so why is it “swiping” the nomination to expect that he will also win more supers? You act as if the presidency is Hillary’s personal property. It isn’t. It’s the property of the people, who are about to tell Hillary and her clan to take a hike.
Get real, crat3. Obama is ahead by every single metric. The only one that should count is the one that both candidates agreed on before this race started, which was delegates. That’s the metric on which their campaigns were based, and that’s the only one Obama needs to win to become the nominee. There is nothing desperate about his campaign - he is playing by the rules and winning by the rules. But he is also winning by every other measure: popular votes, states won, whatever standard you apply. Check out www.realclearpolitics.com.
16 million Americans can’t be wrong.
Go, Obama!
I was thinking about this bitter comment that people are still hammering Obama on….why is it that when Senator Clinton made those comments to ABC about hard-working Americans, white Americans, and wrote those off as a poor choice of words it was accepted as such. However, when Senator Obama used “bitter” instead of “angry/frustrated” and “cling” instead of “rely on”, Senator Clinton pounced on them and labeled him as an elitist. Senator Obama’s poor choice of words no more make him an elitist who looks down on small-town people than Senator Clinton’s make her a racist who looks down on African Americans?? Both their RECORDS indicate clearly the opposite of elite (Obama) and racist (Clinton) right?
I am a woman and I refuse to vote for Clinton, in the beginning she had some appeal..but now she is a like a neverending nightmare. I am a woman I will not vote for her or McCain.
My Mom will only vote for Clinton. She worked tirelessly to get Ella Grasso elected to various positions, long, long before women were common in politics.
She told a story of going to a construction site with Ella. Ella would yell up at the guys on ladders, “Hey you, and you, and you, get down here. I’m Ella Grasso and I want talk to you”. These big construction guys would sheepishly come down the ladders and she give them the spiel and pump their hands. Mom said they looked astonished, like a flying saucer landed. They probably would never forget and they probably voted for her. Ella had a lot of nerve.
So who knows maybe there will be a “dream team”. Hillary is pretty tough. Stranger things have happened.
I’m partial to Obama.
My view of this race is that Obama ran his with the upmost honor and dignity you would want in a candidate. For the most part he stayed away from the negative campaigning. That is hard to do when you have Hillary slinging mud and twisting the metrics needed to win the nomination. Of course Obama has some baggage but the way he handled it shows he has class and isn’t willing to make up stories.
Obama should not pick Hillary to be running mate because there are many more qualified candidates available, men or women, democrat or republican. Since Obama’s vision is to unite the parties so the country can move forward, what better way than to pick someone fresh with experience, without the baggage of Hillary. If Hillary was VP, Bill would still run around cutting his side deals for money and their whole entourage would overtake the White House.
It is time for the country to move in a new direction. Hillary and Bill had their 8 years and it’s time to move with a candidate that has proven he isn’t born with a silver spoon and wants to involve the people in the change.
As for the Hillary supporters who won’t vote for Obama, fine, vote for someone else. As of today, it is clear the best candidate to run the country is Obama. He deserves a chance to do so. If he doesn’t do a good job, then Hillary can run again in 4 years.
john reilly you’re a comedian. you have made me laugh today. thanks for your sense of humor.
Of course Obama is going to win the nomination; he’s campaigned in 57 states! Hillary was only aware of the 50.
Clinton supporters have every right to be upset that their candidate is not winning, but that doesn’t mean they should play so fast and loose with the facts.
Fact #1) Hillary Clinton NEVER led in pledged delegates. The perception of her lead in delegates came from her wide lead in superdelegates who endorsed her before the primaries even began. Such is the power of the Clinton brand name. So to argue that Obama’s recent wave of superdelegate votes is meaningless is frankly illogical when you consider that Clinton relied on that very same Superdelegate lead until recently to convince voters she should be the candidate.
Fact #2: While seating the delegates from MI and FL would be best for the Dem. party in the long run, it should be noted that a VERY generous offer was made by the MI Dem part to seat the delegates at 59 for Obama and 69 for Clinton: A ten point advantage for Clinton. The Obama campaign agreed to the deal. It was the CLINTON campaign that turned it down.
Fact #3: Even with both FL and MI seated, even if you give Obama 0 votes from Michigan, even if you don’t count the caucases from IA, ME, NV and WA… Obama STILL leads in popular votes, delegate counts, States won and now Superdelegates.
Obama has run a great campaign–and did not stoop to lowball tactics, as Hillary has. He could have attacked HRC with her past and present scandals (as the Republicans would have if HRC were the nominee) but He didn’t mention Monicagate and how Bill stonewalled the special prosecutor rather than just tell the truth. He never mentioned that Clinton was one of only two presidents to be impeached. He never mentioned the pardons to Marc Rich and the nefarous friends of Hillary’s brothers. He never mentioned the Paul v Clintons trial pending in Los Angeles right now. Hillary, on the other hand, has stooped to the lowest level of all–playing the gender, race and class cards–dividing women, African American and whites, African Americans and Latinos, and working class and well educated Americans. The Clintons would destroy the country in order to pursue their own ambitions. They remind me of Shakespeare’s tragic couple, the MacBeths.
I’m glad that the campaign continues as Americans continue to realize how much ignorant whites and the Clintons have in common. My apologies to other supporters,
especially the women, but you’ve been “had.”
The shift of Obama’s campaign toward the general election, and the dole out of a few endorsements each day, suggest that he has received the private commitment of enough super delegates to give him the required 2,025.
From where he is now, this total would not have been hard for him to rack up—he only needed 3 of every 10 of those delegates still available.
For Hillary, the party is over—will she gracefully turn out its lights, or hang around until she ends up wearing the lampshade?
Mr Barak Obama is a fresh breath of air for US politics.(decency and honesty)He is a GOOD EXAMPLE of what a presidentail candidate ought to be.He has not run a negative campaign like your typical politician aka Clinton and Mcain.He will be the next President despite the few voters aka Nick and crat3 who are in serious denial…He has already made history despite the odds.The man is simply too intelligent for his opponents.After listening to him,the rest (mcain,Clinton) sound rusty and and very dry…
And you know what alc, Hilary Clintons seems to be quite proud of that fact, actually going around BOASTING that low educated white people are supporting her as if it’s a badge of honor. My guess is a LOT of those so called “lower educated” white people will realize exactly what she is saying about their intelligence and reject her whole heartedly. Many of them will wake up to the fact that they are not as ignorant as she is painting them and demonstrate this by voting for change. My hope is that IF any of them feel that they can do better by allowing themselves (and the same goes for all races) to be encouraged to get better educated, then they will have to look absolutely no further than the man who will lead this country after the next general election for their inspiration. Barack Obama. Don’t feel proud to vote for this “fool” Hilary Clinton who wishes to exploit and use you. Do just the opposite - show her that you are not as stupid as she so gleefully runs around the country telling every you are! How embarrassing it would be to think after walking out of the polling booth and suddenly realize that you had just done something very stupid - you had just voted for Clinton! Let’s face it - you would find it an awful struggle to look in the mirror at yourself and not think that you were an uneducated white person because, if you VOTED for her, according to what she has said - you must be of lower intelligence for supporting her! Huh…. run that by me again!
JulianG4–that is exactly the kind of ridiculous, illogical, and prejudiced statements that will lead this country to several more decades of irresponsible leadership. You and all the other Americans that judge this man not by the content of his character, but by his name need to open your eyes and listen to what this man has to say about creating change in our country. He’s talking specifically about you.
Okay - here it is again - but perhaps just a little clearer!
And you know what alc; Hilary Clintons seems to be quite proud of that fact, actually going around BOASTING that low educated white people are supporting her as if it’s a badge of honor. My guess is a LOT of those so called “lower educated” white people will realize exactly what she is saying about their intelligence and reject her whole heartedly. Many of them will wake up to the fact that they are not as ignorant as she is painting them and demonstrate this by voting for change. My hope is that IF any of them feel that they can do better by allowing themselves (and the same goes for all races) to be encouraged to get better educated, then they will have to look absolutely no further than the man who will lead this country after the next general election for their inspiration. Barack Obama. Don’t feel proud to vote for this “fool” Hilary Clinton who wishes to exploit and use you. Do just the opposite - show her that you are not as stupid as she so gleefully runs around the country telling everyone you are! How embarrassing it would be to think after walking out of the polling booth and suddenly realize that you had just done something very stupid - you had just voted for Clinton! Let’s face it - you would find it an awful struggle to look in the mirror at yourself and not think that you were an uneducated white person because, if you voted for HER, according to what she has said - you must be of lower intelligence for supporting her! Huh…. run that by me again!
Does anyone remember the children’s story, The Tortoise And The Hare? Hillary ran full speed to Super Tuesday and didn’t have any plan beyond that, while Barack steadily moved forward and captured every metric. Now she’s running full speed to cross the finish line before he does, but it’s too late. She can no longer catch him.
I’m white, sixty, and wish I had a brain, but I can tell when someone is sincere. Go Obama!
We have a profound chance in this country to put someone in office that truley cares, and is not the pawn of big money.
An eloquent man whom aside from being Intelligent, has an real motovation and desire to do something good for this country and its people.
He actually stands for something, other than what we have had.
If people can’t see, at this point in our history, that Obama would be a positive force, not only for this country, but for the world, to restore our integrity and the world’s trust in the United States again.
Then we deserve what we’ve had, and more of the same, I’m afraid that we may get, if we don’t act now give this man the support he needs, so that he can give this country what it needs.
The consensus in Seattle
it that its won’t be too hard
to beat John McCain in November…why? John McCain
doesnt fall to far from the Bush….Clinton could win against him…But Obama would
hit one out of the ballpark! and bring aboard a great cabinet of bipartisan members…Win, we wouldnt win
WE WOULD CHANGE AMERICA BACK TO Global respect…
Obama 2008 and beyond
I’m a two time contributor, yes $25 each time. But your website needs to have a component to let us talk to you. I know you all are professionals, but we your supporters might have good creative suggestions.
Senator Obama is exactly what this country needs. He speaks “unity” instead of war. Jobs, instead of NAFTA, and Health care for all. We need Senator Obama to start thinking about single payer health care. Hillary is just a name, she is all about big business, despite her aw shucks look who’s voting for me schtick. What did “experience” get us? A fool by the name of George W. Bush. I’m hoping that the superdelegates respect the wishes of millions and vote for Senator Obama.
Let’s play nice. Clinton finally got that message. Run out the clock - stay in until June 3 - but if you can’t say anything nice about Obama, don’t say anything at all. He’s got the nomination sewn up. Now visit the rest of the states - preach the Democratic Party agenda - two for one in both states - let McCain field questions about his wife’s refusal to release her tax returns and his crazy pastor for a while. In the end 95% of those dems who are bitter about HRC not getting the nomination will come around to Obama - and when that happens McCain will be done for.
Crat3
Your reference to an article of Debra Hanania Freeman “OBAMA BACKERS MAKE THEIR THREAT” is ridiculous. Debra is an employee of Larouche whom by the way was sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment in 1988 for conspiracy to commit mail fraud and tax code violations. Lerouche and Debra have always play the theory of absurb. If what they are saying is true why not ask for a recount of the votes.
Lerouche is now an 85 years old man who is seeking publicity.
what a magnificent race
Both oboma and clinton are much stronger candidates because of it
clinton is very very good but oboma is Great
and something very special that our country need’s at theis time