February 08, 2008
The Democrats' Nail-Biter Continues
Even though the candidates have moved on to the next round of contests -- caucuses in Nebraska, Louisiana and Washington tomorrow; Maine on Sunday; and the Potomac Primary next Tuesday -- the final Super Tuesday tally in the incredibly tight race between Democrats Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama remains unresolved. As delegate counts from various states continue to trickle in, the latest count by MSNBC has Obama with a razor-thin lead over Clinton, 861 to 855.
Meanwhile, the results of New Mexico's Feb. 5 caucus still hang in the balance. With 99 percent of precincts reporting, MSNBC (a NationalJournal.com partner) has Clinton leading, 49 percent to 48 percent. But with just over 1,100 votes separating them, the two senators are waiting for more than 17,000 provisional ballots to be counted before a winner is declared.
AP reports that it "could be a couple of days" before there's an answer; UPI quotes state party leaders who say it may take another week. Either way, the two are likely to split the delegates from that state down the middle.
While they await the results, New Mexico caucus-goers are voicing frustration with the delay. Both the Santa Fe New Mexican and Albuquerque Journal report on some of the problems that ensnared the caucusing process Tuesday. And the Albuquerque Tribune examines the potentially greater impact superdelegates from that state (and others) will play in determining the Democratic nominee if the overall race remains too close to call.
Indeed, although Super Tuesday ended in more or less a draw between the two Democrats, it's Obama who seems to be benefiting the most from the spoils, unofficially knocking Clinton from the front-runner spot. Reporting from the Conservative Political Action Conference, CBS News' David Miller noticed "a shift in the way Republicans talk about the Democratic race -- a shift that indicates even they think the Democrat they all love to bash, Hillary Clinton, may not win this thing after all."
National Journal's Democratic political insiders have also changed their views of the race dramatically in just the past week alone. Before Super Tuesday, 70 percent predicted Clinton would be the nominee. That number's down to 57 percent in this week's survey [PDF], with 42 percent saying Obama will win the nod. Their comments indicate that many see John McCain's rise as the de facto GOP nominee working in Obama's favor.
Posted at 2:38 PM
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Barack Obama, Campaigns, Democrats, Hillary Rodham Clinton, WH 2008
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