Barack Obama has reached the magic number, and
clinched the Democratic presidential nomination, according to the Associated Press delegate count.
The count is based on private and public delegate commitments. According to the AP, Obama has effectively claimed the nomination with 2,118 delegates, even if he loses the South Dakota and Montana primaries today.
Showing political savvy, Obama's campaign has secured enough public and private commitments from elected and superdelegates, on the last day of the primary season.
Could this be Al Gore's chance. Some Democratic insiders seem to think so. Congressman and Superdelegate Mark Tomasik says Al Gore may
head the Democratic ticket this November, if this thing goes all the way to the convention.
This morning I saw the
latest Gallup poll showing Hillary Clinton leading Barack Obama 49 to 42 percent among national Democratic voters. This got me thinking — what is going on with the Dems?!
Even people inside Hillary Clinton's campaign acknowledge that there is no way she can win more pledged delegates, and it is nearly impossible for her to secure a popular-vote victory. So, the only way she can win is if the superdelegates decide that they know best, and effectively take the nomination from Barack Obama.
The Huffington Post is compiling an
extensive dossier to allow voters to meet that mythical breed of creature that's oh, so influential this election: The Superdelegate. In an ongoing investigation soliciting input and profiles from citizen-journalists, they've built a roll-over map that pops up the list of available profiles from each state.
It's a tad more servicey than a
round up of Facebook pictures (though arguably not as fun). Check in and meet the crew, including
Fagafaga Daniel Langkilde, a superdelegate/beauty contest judge from American Samoa.
Super Tuesday, on February 5th, was supposed to be the day the Democratic nominee emerged. Instead, absolutely nothing changed. Today could be decisive, but I still get the feeling neither candidate is ready to call it quits.
Today, Hillary has a chance to break her 11-state losing streak.
