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Spinning the Democratic Nomination: an update the day after the March 4th Primaries

So, Hillary won the popular vote for Rhode Island, Texas, and Ohio. Obama won in Vermont. But what counts is getting to 2,025 pledged delegates to win the Democratic nomination for President.  And here’s the kicker - Hillary only gained FOUR delegates after all was said and done.  And that number will probably go the other way once the Texas caucus votes are counted.  Here’s what the New York Times has projected for Clinton and Obama as of March 5, 2008:

As you can see, Obama is still in the lead. And in fact, his lead could widen ever so slightly because there are still delegates to be awarded from the Texas caucuses [where last I checked, Obama was gaining ground]. But, after Obama had won 11 state contests previously, the Clinton camp is attempting to spin the March 4th primaries in their favor. The Clinton camp needed the Texas and Ohio wins desperately, but the fact remains that she did not overtake Obama in the delegate count. But that doesn’t stop them from claiming they have regained the hearts of Democratcs and swung momentum their way. Of course, I am on the Obama mailing list, and the response remained along the lines of: “we’re in the lead and Clinton was unable to recapture the delegate lead.” So there’s spinnage that goes both ways.

So what does it all mean? I think the contest will remain highly competitive with huge contests in Pennslyvania and North Carolina coming up. 158 and 115 delegates respectively is a big piece of the pie. There’s plenty of work to be done, giving neither candidate breathing room. All the while, McCain can relax and unite the Republican party behind him, which is particularly troubling to me.

Maybe it means that in the end, Puerto Rico will be the deciding factor. They are the last ’state’ to hold a Democratic primary - on June 7th and have a substantial 55 delegates up for grabs. Now wouldn’t that be something?