MarkMiller

Clinton Wins in Landslide in West Virginia

Her win doesn't bring her much closer to 2,025 delegates needed to win the Democratic nomination

By Kenneth T. Walsh
Posted May 14, 2008


Tuesday was a big day for Hillary Clinton as she won the Democratic presidential primary in West Virginia in a huge landslide.
Photo Gallery: West Virginia Primary
(Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

As the final results were being tabulated, it appeared that Clinton would score a net gain of no more than a dozen delegates—with 20 going to Clinton and eight to Obama, under a system of proportional representation, with an additional 10 superdelegates to be determined separately. This left her substantially behind in the nomination race. Obama now has 1,883.5 delegates to Clinton's 1,717, according to the latest count by the Associated Press, with 2,025 needed for the nomination under current party rules.


But Geoff Garin, Clinton's chief strategist, said this morning that the West Virginia results should quiet calls for Clinton to drop out. He predicted that she will stay in the race at least until the final primaries conclude on June 3.
Tuesday night, Clinton praised Obama as a worthy contender and pledged to support him if he wins the nomination, but she promised to continue the fight. "The race isn't over yet," she told cheering supporters in Charleston, W.Va. She called herself "the strongest candidate" to defeat Republican John McCain in the general election.
Obama, recognizing that he would lose West Virginia, campaigned lightly there and devoted his time to other states. He told garment workers in Cape Girardeau County, Mo., Tuesday that it was time for a "new direction in Washington" as he turned his attention to the presumptive GOP nominee. "John McCain has decided that he is running for George Bush's third term in office," Obama said.
Clinton has only a few cards left to play in her effort to catch Obama. There are five contests left, with a total of 189 delegates—in Kentucky and Oregon next Tuesday; Puerto Rico June 1, and Montana and South Dakota June 3. She hopes to roll up big margins, especially in Kentucky and Puerto Rico, where she seems to be ahead. Obama, however, is strong in Oregon, Montana, and South Dakota.
Clinton's final move may be to challenge the Democratic National Committee's disqualification of all the delegates from Florida and Michigan, which held their primaries earlier than the DNC allowed. If all those delegates are counted—as Clinton wants, since she won the two disputed primaries—the magic number for a majority would be 2,209 delegates. This would give Clinton a last chance to overtake Obama if she won a big majority of the remaining superdelegates—party leaders whose votes aren't tied to caucuses and primaries. The DNC rules and bylaws committee will meet May 31 to consider the Florida and Michigan situation.
Garin said that even if the committee refuses to count all the disputed delegates, it will certainly count some of them, and that will increase the majority needed to attain the nomination, and keep Clinton's bid alive as she pursues superdelegates.

CosmicRocker

It's like a chess game.
You don't resign simply becasue you are behind in material ( points).

You look for a mistake, or a strategic win.

Only when it becomes IMPOSSIBLE, do you knock over the king.

clearly there is play left with the DNC rules commitee.

She was gracious last night, and there IS more play in the primaries, and the rules commitee.

Play it out.

__________________

time to dump all that self doubt, hate, distrust, envy, paranoia, and overdue library books.

tune in today. ponder tomorrow.

Forget yesterday. the river doesn't run in reverse

Jonesy

Hopefully she loses. It is more entertaining when her supporters are crying.

While all you britches and hoe's worship your false idols, i'll be making a real difference.