While the issues regarding the superdelegates and the Florida and Michigan primaries must still be decided, former President Bill Clinton said in an interview outside of a Washington, D.C., church Sunday that the race is far from over, and although his wife may not win certain states she is still getting votes.
“The way the Democratic Party’s selection process works, even in places where you think you can’t win you can get delegates,” the former President said. “In a larger sense, when this nomination process is over, we have to hold our party together and whoever ends up winning we need to have reached out to each other.”
With impressive victories in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia, Sen. Barack Obama is now the front-runner for the Democratic nomination in a historic Presidential campaign that is revealing that it is indeed possible for an African American to occupy the White House. While Obama is ahead, Sen. Hillary Clinton is claiming victory in Florida and Michigan even though party officials from both states were sanctioned for moving up the primary date. NAACP Board Chairman Julian Bond is arguing that these delegates should be seated, but it is unclear who will get the delegates since all the candidates had agreed not to campaign in the sanctioned states.
With 2,025 delegates needed for the Democratic nomination, Obama now has 1,078 delegates, Clinton has 969 delegates, and now with nearly half of the more than 700 superdelegates committing themselves to candidates, Clinton will not only need to win the remaining primaries to stop Obama, she must win big.
The nation is now awaiting the results of today’s primaries in both Wisconsin and Hawaii where the race continues to be close as more people join Obama’s movement. Though the former First Lady is still waging a valiant effort, political observers say that Clinton must win with nearly 60% of the vote with a campaign team in which her campaign manager and deputy have resigned.
Clinton campaigned in Texas last week where she is poised for what political observers have described as one final stand against Obama on March 4 when voters in Texas and Ohio vote in an election where Obama has won the last eight primary contests in a row. Polls, however, have shown that the two senators are so close that the difference in the numbers is statistically insignificant. CNN reported on Monday that 50% of likely Democratic primary voters support Clinton as their choice for the party’s nominee, with 48% backing Obama.
This election year’s Democratic race is considered by some to be among the closest and most intriguing in decades—and there could be more drama before Election Day. According to former President Clinton, “The best thing that has happened recently is the debate that Clinton and Obama had in Los Angeles that was not only cordial, but they even left open the door that they might run together. That is the kind of thing we need to do.”