Last updated on July 1st, 2012 at 06:53 am
As the superdelegates continue to pour in for Obama, with dozens more officially undeclared, but making their intentions known, Barack Obama has essentially wrapped up the Democratic nomination before the polls close in South Dakota and Montana tonight.
Obama currently needs 27.5 delegates to win the nomination. He has picked up 14 delegate votes today, including the endorsement of former President Jimmy Carter. Carter’s endorsement isn’t a surprise because he has been signaling his support for Obama for weeks. It seems like if Hillary Clinton isn’t going to concede tonight the party is prepared to move on, regardless of what exit time table she has set for herself.
He will probably pick up somewhere in the neighborhood of 16 delegates out of tonight’s contests. Interestingly, the two campaigns seem to be battling to the very end over who this night is going to belong to. The Clinton campaign is begging superdelegates to hold off on endorsing Obama tonight, so that Clinton can give herself a big sendoff in New York City tonight. The Obama people believe that this is a historic night that should belong to them.
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I think that the Clinton campaign is making yet another mistake, by not giving the night to Obama. The Obama campaign has gone out of their way to be generous and gracious. I understand that Clinton wants one last night to summarize and celebrate her campaign, but the loser doesn’t get to set the agenda.
Clinton has run a campaign that has made history, but it is time to step aside. I am sure that she will get a nice primetime slot to speak at the convention, and this is certainly not the last time we will be hearing from Hillary Clinton. This is Obama’s night. She should do the right thing and step aside.
