In the case of the North Carolina primary, Democratic-co frontrunner Senator Barack Obama of Illinois has come out victorious. In the case of the Indiana primary, Senator Hillary Clinton of New York had a narrow victory over Obama. While Clinton may have “won” Indiana, it is not enough to give her the necessary delegates to clinch the Democratic nomination.
So far, it would look as if Clinton’s chances of getting the Democratic nomination are dwindling. Despite winning some major states, things have not fared well for Clinton. So far, she had several shakeups in her campaign. Shakeups were not present in the Obama campaign. So far, Clinton’s campaign has been dealt very critical damage both politically and financially. Several people either resigned or defected to the Obama camp.
Recently, I wrote an article a few days ago on a recent CBS News/New York Times poll that showed that Obama has regained ground in the midst of the Reverent Jeremiah Wright controversy. In a sense, Obama managed to regenerate and recover from the damage.
Now, Clinton is stumping in West Virginia. She continues to insist that she is the better candidate to go up against presumed GOP nominee Senator John McCain of Arizona. She may be in the same shoes as former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, who stood in McCain’s way of becoming the presumed GOP nominee.
Huckabee was seen as the underdog of the GOP race. In the Democratic race, Clinton may as well be the underdog due to the recent primary results. Romney resorted to funding his own campaign. In the Democratic race, the Clinton campaign said that she loaned them a little over $6 million in the last month.
Due to the delegate count, it will be difficult for Clinton to get the nomination. Her only strong chances would be the remaining superdelegates along with re-votes in Florida and Michigan. Both states were stripped of their delegates for having their primaries too early which violates DNC rules.
Clinton has tried to get those victories counted.
DNC Chair Howard Dean addressed Florida and Michigan. He said that the rules cannot be changed at the end of the game and change the outcome of the contest. Should those victories be counted, Clinton would have a lead over Obama in the delegate count. Dean explains that there will be a compromise reached at the end of May. However, he said that the terms of the compromise are unknown at the moment.
He did also say that the rest of the forty-eight states must be respected because they have played by the rules.
Also, Dean said that he demands the remaining superdelegates to pick who they will stand by at the end of June.
Both the Clinton and Obama campaigns are also fighting for the remaining superdelegates. Clinton’s campaign said that she is still in the race and they should not head to Obama.
However, Obama’s campaign has told them to look at the delegate math.
Beyond North Carolina and Indiana, things may look greener for Clinton in the final contests. Four of those contests are closed which would nullify Obama’s support amongst Independents and Republicans. Still, it may ultimately be up to the remaining superdelegates.