After Split Primaries Obama Closer than Ever to Nomination

By Anastacia Mott Austin

Get ready for a shocker….

The Democratic nomination race will continue! I know, I know, it’s a surprise to me too.

Seriously, nobody expected Hillary Clinton to throw in the towel after this week’s double primary in Kentucky and Oregon, even if she had lost both contests. She didn’t. In fact she clobbered Obama in Kentucky with a 65-30 percentage-point margin, though he pummeled her in Oregon, 59-41.

So really, it’s just the same news, different day.

Not exactly, say some political experts. With Tuesday’s tallies added, Obama now has a majority of total pledged delegates, a fact he hopes will convince those ever-reluctant superdelegates to support him.

He is now just 62 delegates away from claiming the 2,026 delegates needed. It’s unlikely that he will receive that many from the remaining 86 up for grabs. He’d need 69% of the remaining delegates in order to claim victory just from pledged primary delegates.

But as superdelegates continue to trickle into Obama’s camp by the day, if current trends continue, he’ll need less and less of a majority percentage to seal his nomination.

Obama, as the presumptive nominee, has now turned his attention to the national contest in November and his almost certain opponent, John McCain. He has also begun acting the gracious winner and speaking warmly of Hillary Clinton, saying Tuesday night in Iowa, "We've had our disagreements in this campaign, but we all admire her courage. Senator Clinton has shattered myths and broken barriers and changed the America in which my daughters and your daughters will come of age."

For her part, Clinton is not feeling warm fuzzies yet toward her opponent. She continued to insist that the race is not yet over, and says the fact that Obama has begun focusing on a national campaign before he has won the nomination is premature. "You can declare yourself anything, but if you don't have the votes, it doesn't matter," she said this week.

The squabbling continues in the Democratic party, as staunch supporters of both Obama and Clinton pout and say they will not vote for the other if their own candidate does not win the nomination.

That’s good news for Republicans, whose chances for a victory in November are starting to look better and better, despite dismal popularity numbers for George Bush, even among his own party.

The votes in both Kentucky and Oregon came as no surprise to those who have been watching primary results closely. The majority of voters in Kentucky were white, non-college educated, and skewed older than in other states. Six out of ten Oregon Democrats described themselves as liberal, and Obama scored better among all groups and age divisions than he has in other states.

So the race goes on. And on, and on. Both candidates are awaiting the results of a May 31st meeting to decide what to do about the as-yet unseated Michigan and Florida delebates.

The three remaining primaries are Puerto Rico (Sunday June 1st, 63 delegates), Montana (June 3rd, 24 delegates), and South Dakota (June 3rd, 23 delegates).