Barack Obama to declare victory

Not long after the polls close in the May 20 Kentucky and Oregon primaries, Barack Obama plans to declare victory in his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.
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And, until at least May 31 and perhaps longer, Hillary Clinton's campaign plans to dispute it.
It's a train wreck waiting to happen, with one candidate claiming to be the nominee while the other vigorously denies it, all predicated on an argument over what exactly constitutes the finish line of the primary race.
The Obama campaign agrees with the Democratic National Committee, which pegs a winning majority at 2,025 pledged delegates and superdelegates--a figure that excludes the penalized Florida and Michigan delegations. The Clinton campaign, on the other hand, insists the winner will need 2,209 to cinch the nomination--a tally that includes Florida and Michigan.
"We don't accept 2,025. It is not the real number because that does not include Florida and Michigan," said Howard Wolfson, one of Clinton's two chief strategists. "It's a phony number."
Wolfson said they intend to contest the DNC's 2,025 number "every day," as well as any declaration of victory made by Obama based upon that number, because it does not include Florida and Michigan.
In January, Clinton won both states by wide margins when Obama did not actively contest them. The two states were stripped of their delegates for holding early primaries not sanctioned by the Democratic National Committee.
Obama will not reach the 2,025 magic number on May 20. Rather, on that date he is all but certain to hit a different threshold--1,627 pledged delegates, which would constitute a winning majority among the 3,253 total pledged delegates if Florida and Michigan are not included.

"On May 20 we're going to declare victory," said an Obama senior advisor who asked that his name be withheld to speak candidly, adding that after those contests they will be "the ones with the most pledged delegates and the most popular votes."
While the nature of that declaration of victory is "still developing," in the advisor's words, the Obama campaign contends that the winner of a majority of pledged delegates should be the party nominee.
"Senator Obama, our campaign and our supporters believe pledged delegates is the most legitimate metric for determining how this race has unfolded," wrote Obama campaign manager David Plouffe Wednesday in a memo to superdelegates. "It is simply the ratification of the DNC rules - your rules - which we built this campaign and our strategy around."
But the Clinton campaign's insistence on counting Florida and Michigan would alter not only the overall delegate math, but the pledged delegate math as well. Because if the two states are included in the count, the total number of pledged delegates would rise from 3,253 to 3,566--which means the magic number for a majority rises to 1,784, not 1,627 as the Obama campaign asserts.
By hewing to that interpretation, the Clinton campaign would thus be able to raise doubts about a May 20 declaration of victory by Obama.
Since the earliest possible resolution of the Florida/Michigan dispute is May 31, when the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee will meet in Washington to address petitions from Michigan and Florida DNC members, the 11-day period between the May 20 primaries and the RBC meeting could produce a chaotic stretch where Obama claims to be the party nominee while Clinton argues otherwise.
Already, the two campaigns are gearing up for the battle.
"With the Clinton path to the nomination getting even narrower, we expect new and wildly creative scenarios to emerge in the coming days," wrote Plouffe in his memo. "While those scenarios may be entertaining, they are not legitimate and will not be considered legitimate by this campaign or its millions of supporters, volunteers, and donors."
"You can declare mission accomplished but that doesn't mean that the mission has actually been accomplished," Wolfson said.

A black man will never be president of the United States at least in our life time. He must as well concede to McCain. Give it up to four more years of Republican rule.

Marisa Marquez
State representative (elect)
District 77

Marisa Marquez wrote:

A black man will never be president of the United States at least in our life time. He must as well concede to McCain. Give it up to four more years of Republican rule.
Marisa Marquez
State representative (elect)
District 77

Stop using meth. Time will prove you wrong. And we don't need the Hispanic vote, becasue it is worthless anyway!

Ms. Marquez enjoy your one and only term. What a waste.

Marisa Marquez wrote:

A black man will never be president of the United States at least in our life time. He must as well concede to McCain. Give it up to four more years of Republican rule.
Marisa Marquez
State representative (elect)
District 77

Jealous because your little drug cartel wanting Hispanics will never come close to being a President in this country. And if for some miracle it was to happen, they would not last a week, because blacks want forget what the Hispanic did to Obama. And whites don't want someone who will open the border to Mexico. Hell we are trying to seal it. Take that to the bank you hag!

Marisa Marquez wrote:
A black man will never be president of the United States at least in our life time. He must as well concede to McCain. Give it up to four more years of Republican rule.
Marisa Marquez
State representative (elect)
District 77

I have listened to you speak on local talk radio and never would have though you would make such an inappropriate comment as the above. Quick hire a handler like the "big boys" or get out of politics. You do a dis service to your constituates

I should have voted for Moreno, at least I know where the senile old man thinks. Marissa's biggest problem? HER EGO! Now that she's the new kid on the block, she thinks she has gained this vast political insight. Can I have some of what she's been drinking? Obama will be the Democratic Candidate for President and Obama will win in Nov.

Georgia boy wrote:

<quoted text>
Stop using meth. Time will prove you wrong. And we don't need the Hispanic vote, becasue it is worthless anyway!

you got that right boy

Take it easy everyone. There's no way to know if State Rep. Elect Marquez actually wrote those posts. My suspicion is that it was not her.

Obama Mama wrote:

I should have voted for Moreno, at least I know where the senile old man thinks. Marissa's biggest problem? HER EGO! Now that she's the new kid on the block, she thinks she has gained this vast political insight. Can I have some of what she's been drinking? Obama will be the Democratic Candidate for President and Obama will win in Nov.

Let it go Norma, there wont be enough room for Marisa with your ego.

Marisa Marquez denies writing this post or even knowing how to get on TOPIXS

She claims to have supported Obama