Obama Looks to Clinch Tuesday
Senior advisers to Illinois Sen. Barack Obama are increasingly confident the final day of the six-month chase for the Democratic nomination will produce just enough delegates for Obama to vanquish his inexhaustible rival, Hillary Clinton.
The magic hours for Obama could fall between sunset and the time he hits the stage in St. Paul for the penultimate victory party of this historic primary campaign.
Senior officials tell FOX News Obama expects to collect at least 10 new super delegate endorsements before the polls close in Montana and South Dakota on Tuesday.
The Obama camp also expects to win Montana comfortably and squeak by Clinton in South Dakota, thereby winning 17 or 18 of the 31 pledged delegates available in both states.
Obama ended Monday 41.5 delegates away from the 2,118 needed to capture the nomination.
With the endorsement Tuesday of House Majority Whip, James Clyburn of South Carolina, Obama’s magic number is already one delegate closer than the tally officially recognized by the Obama campaign.
With at least 10 new superdelegates expected to declare before the polls close in the Mountain West and the projected 17-18 gain in pledged delegates from Montana and South Dakota, Obama would be less than 15 delegates away from the nomination as he prepares to take the stage in the city, St. Paul, Minn., and in the arena where Republicans will anoint John McCain their nominee in early September.
Obama officials expect to attract endorsements from more than a dozen superdelegates as soon as the Montana and South Dakota polls close and, as such, will either be just under or just over the threshold of 2,118 delegates. Several House members have withheld their endorsement for Obama pending the end of the primaries. A handful of senators who have been leaning toward Obama may also announce their support after the polls close in what may be a coordinated burst of super delegate support just before Obama’s Tuesday speech.
“We expect to do well with superdelegates and are hopeful enough will come in tomorrow to make Senator Obama the nominee,” said Obama spokesman Bill Burton. “We’ve been in almost (constant) contact with the superdelegates for some time now and so we have a pretty good feel for their situation.”
Obama is planning a victory speech that will make the general election argument for change but also lavish praise on Clinton’s campaign as Obama seeks to defuse any possible friction with the New York senator. Senior Obama advisers are less sanguine about lowering the temperature with former President Bill Clinton, who complained bitterly Monday in South Dakota about what he considered soft media coverage of Obama and harsh treatment of his wife.
For now, team Obama is focusing exclusively on courting Clinton — not in terms of drafting her as a running mate — but as an ally in redirecting party activists loyal to her campaign away from her campaign and toward the general election. The Obama camp is not going to discuss running mate issues for several weeks as it wants the nation to focus exclusively on Obama’s message against McCain and as it sizes him up as the new Democratic standard bearer. Getting bogged down in speculation on running mates, they believe, would create an unwelcome and counter-productive distraction.
“Senator Clinton is such as exemplary public servant, has run such a good campaign and so dedicated to this race and the party winning, we believe she will want to help our campaign,” Burton said, echoing Sen. Obama’s complimentary statements of the past two days.
On Tuesday, Obama’s speech will – in addition to acknowledging the history of the moment and emphasizing change – will “go hard on McCain and blow a big kiss to Clinton,” said one senior adviser.
IF obama has said he is the nominee – WHY are MILLIONS of American people VOTING for HILLARY? WHY has HILLARY WON BIG the last 6 states??? Maybe the more we learn about obama’s RADICAL background – the more people VOTE HILLARY!
WHY have the supers held back – do they see him as the WEAK candidate??? OR are they also holding our for a “political promise” – dirty political tricks!
So much for our guy of Unity!
if obama does clinch it tonight, that’s ok cause my family and friends and myself will turn over to RP. The hell with the Democrates. Know Hillary we will make sure that Obummer don’t get it eighter. and his wife don’t deserve to be in our Whitehouse, she belongs in the getto, right along with her idiot husband. Even if Hillary went for VP. I won’t vote for Obummer
All of this Obama talk about clinching the nomination Tuesday is nothing more than the usual dirty politics from the Obama campaign that is intended to suppress voter support for Sen. Clinton.
Obama is seeking to clinch a stolen nomination with the MI delegates he hijacked. His endorsements from superdelegates have no integrity and are irresponsible.
No doubt Obama will be defeated in November when he will crash and burn and the Democratic Party will be a train wreck.
I will work for his resounding defeat and vote for McCain in a swing state. Obama, his supporters, and the DNC must be “punished” for not playing fair and square.
Superdelegates have a responsibility to endorse Sen. Clinton as the best qualified and the strongest presidential candidate to defeat McCain and win the general election in a landslide victory hands down.
With all due respect to the journalists reporting, he cannot clinch the nomination until the roll is called in August. He is the presumptive nominee of the party at this point. He does not have enough votes by pledged delegates at this point and is over the magic number only by superdelegates attempting to coerce an end to the democratic process. Watch the number of independent party affiiiations filed tomorrow. I am sure Lou Dobbs will be very happy.
The Obama camp wants her to fix the problem he has with the majority of the Democratic base, ie white women – actually women in general, older demographics, latinos and blue-collar. Oh my God that is the Democratic base. I agree with what Geraldo said in Puerto Rico.
What on earth is going on with the media???
Circulating news that are not true!
This is the most vias media in the history of its inception!
I feel bad for my fellow Americans who are willing to take the risk of wanting to elect someone (Obama) who has a limited experience in leadership than to somebody who has immense expertise on all problems and relevant issues that our Country need to address and solve right now.
Obama supporters should ask themselves: “Why Obama is avoiding to debate Senator Clinton since their last debate in ABC? Saying that they have debated enough. Is this because of his “Lack of knowledge” in every debatable subject that a future President of our Country should know? He is not running as Senator or congressman! He is running to be the President of the most Powerful Country in the whole world! He must be equipped with wisdom and knowlegde in order to govern this Huge Country of ours in the right direction! If he is afraid and scared of pressures in a mere Debate – How can he handle the pressure inside the Oval office?
SuperDelegates – you still have time to think not only who’s the best fit to this Position but who can beat John McCain in November?
Obama has a lot of Baggage that he need to address… Obama is now trying to get rid of them one by one.
- Now Obama is saying that he is no longer a member of the Trinity Church?
- What’s next????? His Associations with controversial figures???
- And more???
DNC Leaders should be mindful of these Baggage!!!
Indeed Senator Hillary Clinton is the best fit to be our President!
For now, team Obama is focusing exclusively on courting Clinton
a total waste of energy and one that feeds into her sense of grandiosity. the loud mouth supporters of MRS Clinton are getting press just because they are loud mouths and will quiet down. tell them that in a few years another uterus will run for the presidency and they will be fine. I mean they couldn’t be supporting anything else, could they, surely not the lack of achievements she calls her experience?
If Obama choses Hillary as VP I’ll vote for McCain!!!!
i feel that obama really has a good lead in obama and i think that hillary clinton needs to drop out and just let obama be the winner.
I also feel that Obama is a good canadiate and I think that mccain is not a good person and all he cares about is power and he will not help us out in the war and the economy i would oick clinton before him.
but i am not a supporter of her, i support obama because he know what we need to better the economy and get the troops hope and fix other kwy issues and he is not selfish like mccain.
Am I the first to post? I hope it’s not sour grapes to the Republicans that the Democrats may finally have their nominee. John McCain really hasn’t gained any ground as he has travelled around the country campaigning by himself. So, now things get interesting. Senator Clinton fought hard and is to be commended. This primary season has been very exciting because of 2 fabulous options that the democrats had. The race was close because we had a very difficult decision to make. But now that it appears that we have made it, or will in the next few days, I’m excited to be pivoting toward the general election. Now, the real fun starts. Looking forward to the Obama/McCain debates.
“Obama is planning a victory speech that will make the general election argument for change but also lavish praise on Clinton’s campaign as Obama seeks to defuse any possible friction with the New York senator. ….
For now, team Obama is focusing exclusively on courting Clinton — not in terms of drafting her as a running mate — but as an ally in redirecting party activists loyal to her campaign away from her campaign and toward the general election”
Are they really truly SERIOUS? They think they can run the campaign they did, insulting tens of millions of Americans and a speech from Saint Obama is going to magically fix it all? Perhaps it’s time to put down the KoolAid and consider what has spewed out of the campaign for months. A lot of people have not enjoyed being ignored, belittled, insulted and NOW on top of it all, being taken for granted!
Vote for the label! Never mind qualifications or experience or piddly things like integrity and patriotism! Better the country flail with a hopeless candidate than be turned over to the OTHER party! Don’t elect the person you think is the better candidate! Vote for the one with a D next to his name! Blindly follow the one party leaders want! Be a good little lemming. It doesn’t matter if the party has changed into something you barely recognize and has stomped all over half its members. You can’t vote for a *gasp* republican!
Gag me. There is a reason I have not supported Sen. Obama. He has done NOTHING to earn my vote. He can orate til he’s blue in the face for all I care but it’s not going to make me suddenly support him in the Fall.
It’s good news that the race for the Democratic niomination is almost over and Obama will be able to concentrate on unifying the party and taking on McCain in the fall.
Hopefully Hilary Clinton will back him and the Democratic bid for the White House with the same enthusiasm and energy which she directed towards her own efforts.
This really will be a test of how much she really cares for the nation as opposed to only running as a ‘careerist’
Obama has talent, charisma and youth on his side. The long and tough campaign to be Democrat Presidential nominee has shown he also has the stamina and guts to be President.
Meanwhile, McCain has been doing little to demonstrate that he will lead America into the future with a different agenda from George Bush Jnr. It seems that McCain has nothing new on the plate to offer the American people.
It is an interesting feeling of change for the better with Obama, considering that over a century ago the Democrat Party opposed the abolition of slavery with of course the Replublican Presidential candidate, Abraham Lincoln being seen to support abolition and change.
Good luck Obama. Please make Hiliary VP!
Well, without pridiction it is high time, almighty and inevitable Clinton pack her bag of political bravery and move out as an obstacle to Obama, if democratis really dream of the white house come january
Obama,Clinton,and McCain are all not worthy of my vote.They’re all gonna destroy us even more. All they care about is themselves and nothing about us. Oooops I cant forget about the welfare collectors and tree huggers, that had voted for Obama and Clinton. Those are the only people that care about’em. Noone really cares about the US Troops, gas prices, high taxes. We’re in RECESSION, while everyone else is in denial.
GO OBAMA….you worked so hard and deserve the nomination, never feel entitled to it as did Bill and Hill, it was their undoing.
It would all look very impressive if it were not for the foul up with trying to manage rules of the party without enough thought and careful planning that takes different scenarios into account. Gosh, there are those who did not go to the poles thinking that the votes would not count, there are those who have changed their minds, there are those who voted in the republican primary because it would count. What a lot of possibilities and difficulty in being fair to the other states who followed the rules, to the states that were in danger of not counting at all and to each of the candidates who were forced into arguing for solutions depending on what served their own campaign the best. What a bad show!
Did you catch the part of Obama’s speech where he cited Bill and Hillary’s first political contest in Texas (hey, how about Arkansas)?
HJILLARY IS THE THORN OF AMERICA. SHE IS GOING TO MAKE SURE DEMOCRATS LOOSE IN THE NEXT ELECTION BECAUSE, SO THAT SHE CAN 2012 RUN AFTER MCCAIN. OR SHE IS WEIGHING HER CARDS TO RUN ON LIBERAL OR INDEPENDENT.
SHE DID NOT CONGRATULATE OBAMA AS THE DEMOCRAT NOMINEE SO THERE IS NO WAY YOU CAN GO AROUND IT.
MARY ANN SIMON,AZ
Major you are so Obama it is very hard to take!