Everybody’s very intrepidly attempting to conjure the current delegate count. Of course, the problems with Superdelegates, Florida, and Michigan make it difficult to decide which standards apply, but there seem to be more different totals than applicable standards.
CNN has it at Barack Obama 1262, Hillary Clinton 1213.
Jerome Armstrong has a pledged count of Clinton 1127, Obama 1119, with Superdelegates at Clinton 240, Obama 140.
Covering different bases, MSNBC has Obama at 1078, 1128, or 1306, with Clinton at 969, 1009, or 1270.
The New York Times has Obama 934, Clinton 892, and also gives the AP count of Obama 1275, Clinton 1220.
Real Clear Politics has Obama 1302, Clinton 1235.
The Washington Post gives Obama 1280, and Clinton 1218.
Confused yet?
And while I thank everyone who is trying to figure this out, the real story, as usual, is not even being discussed; the question is this: if all these intelligent, assiduous efforts are coming up with so many different results, how screwed up is the Democratic Party’s nominating system? We’re talking about a presidential election, and we’re talking about an in-house effort. This can’t be blamed on hanging chads, butterfly ballots, Diebold or Katherine Harris.
Given the level of vitriol and distrust that is poisoning the partisans of both candidates’ camps, wouldn’t a clear, transparent system of determining who is actually winning, and by how much, be of some benefit? This is a mess. This is the Democratic Party’s mess! Whoever wins this nomination, the DNC needs to radically reorganize the process. It might even be a good idea to make the results explicitly based on the clearly counted total of the popular vote. At this point, we don’t even know for sure what that total is.
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That’s exactly right. This is the 21st Century Democratic Party? Lord help us all.
the public’s confidence in elections cannot be further undermined, the Democratic Party contributes to the problem with a Byzantine nomination process.
Wonder if this idea will ever catch on…
I would love to see a suspense filled convention–with viewers able to see themselves in the diverse delegate pool and the winner being either a minority or a women. Political theater is the best–and everyone here should agree, because, that’s why you’re here!!
Not to the
corporationspeople who “matter”.A confusing nominating process, Democrats divided, is helping McCain out. The Republicans have half a year to swallow their pride and back the anointed one and start building the “maverick” mythos. 2008 was to the Democrats’ election to lose, not win… and they’re doing a good job of it.
McCain “wins” in November. He’s the “come back kid”.
We (those who post here and elsewhere) have lost our country. It’s no longer ours. It’s no longer 1959, when we could read Mad Magazine and feel good about the future.
Obama is a chance for a better future.
I give his chances 5%.
Chris Bowers and others are building a wiki on this process that will expose it to the light of day. It will give what we need to know at least what the purported/reported popular vote is – by district. They are looking for people to help fill it in.