Clinton Wins Kentucky, Obama Carries Oregon

Yesterday, the American Democrats held their final significant primaries, this time in Kentucky and Oregon. The Clinton camp took Kentucky 65% to 30%, winning 34 delegates to Senator Obama’s 14, a gain of 20. In Oregon, the Obama effort won 58% of the vote against Mrs. Clinton’s 42%, giving Mr. Obama 21 delegates to Mrs. Clinton’s 14. Thus, she gained 13 delegates. It is too little too late with too few left to fight over. Mr. Obama has won an absolute majority of elected delegates, and it is only the existence of unelected party hacks (superdelegates) that prevents him from claiming victory.

Much nonsense is already being trotted out by the Clinton staffers arguing that she has won more big states, more swing states, and leads in the popular vote (if one only counts the vote their way). This is entirely irrelevant. American political parties nominate their candidates at a convention by a major vote of accredited delegates.

Without Michigan and Florida (states which have no delegates at the moment because they violated party rules about the timing of their primaries), 2,026 delegates are needed to wrap this up. CNN’s count shows Mr. Obama with 1,953 and Mrs. Clinton with 1,770. Only 86 more delegates are up for election (in Montana, South Dakota, and Puerto Rico, which is a commonwealth and does not get to vote in the general election for president). Roughly 214 superdelegates have yet to make a declaration of their intentions. The math changes if Florida and Michigan are eventually given delegates, but such a move would not appreciably alter the strength of Mr. Obama’s position.

Mrs. Clinton’s campaign is now $31 million in debt, and that is the reason she won’t give up the fight. She needs to keep raising money if this is ever going to be paid off, and she knows that if she makes a strong enough showing at the end, she might be able to make assumption of some of this debt part of her surrender package. And there just might be some misguided backers still prepared to send money to help.

While Mrs. Clinton’s camp maintains that she can still win the nomination, one must note that if she wins it, it will be a poisoned chalice. Her campaign has been poorly organized, it has burned through money at a rate that is simply staggering, and as a result, she has come second in elected delegates. Were the hacks to yield to her arguments, “Obama can’t win white votes [expect in Oregon, Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, North Dakota, Minnesota, Washington, Wyoming, Utah, etc.],” it would split the party and elect Mr. McCain.

She may believe that not giving up under any circumstances is a virtue. If so, she’s not as bright as she appears. Robert E. Lee surrendered to U.S. Grant in April of 1865, but General Johnston remained in the field capable of continuing. Yet to what end? This is something the Clintonistas fail to understand – there is something more important than their campaign, and by continuing it, they are wasting resources that might otherwise be funneled into a productive effort.

© Copyright 2008 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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