Obama and Clinton: The Countdown for Delegates and Superdelegates

Obama and Clinton split the delegates from Obama’s win in yesterday’s Wyoming caucus 7-5, netting Obama just two delegates. The two Democratic candidates will face off again in Tuesday’s primary in Mississippi, which Obama is also expected to win. Both candidates are looking ahead to delegate-rich Pennsylvania on April 22, where polls show Clinton with a solid, double-digit lead.

Obama now has a total of 1,578 pledged delegates compared to 1,468 delegates for Clinton, according to the Associated Press. Of the 719 known superdelegates, Clinton has the support of 242, and Obama has the backing of 210. A group of 77 “add-ons” will be named later by state party leaders.

Dan Balz reports in today’s Washington Post: “Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's trio of victories over Sen. Barack Obama last week appears to have convinced a sizable number of uncommitted Democratic superdelegates to wait until the end of the primaries and caucuses before picking a candidate, according to a survey by The Washington Post.”

Balz desribes the superdelegates as “a cross-section of the party, young and old, women and men, of all races and creeds, famous and obscure. They approach the role with more caution than gusto -- and they are now among the most closely monitored Americans on the planet, the focus of elaborate courting and tracking inside the Clinton and Obama campaigns.

“By one analysis provided to The Post, half of the uncommitted delegates are elected officials, almost a third come from states that have not yet held primaries or caucuses, a third are women, and about a fifth are black or Hispanic. Others say there is no real pattern to who has taken sides and who remains on the fence.”
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