Obama Wins Guam by 7 Votes

Last updated on July 1st, 2012 at 06:21 am

ImageEven when Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama match up thousands of miles off the mainland, they still end up virtually tied. The race between the two in the U.S. territory of Guam was only for four convention delegates, so what was really at stake was bragging rights, which in the end neither campaign got.

The final vote total was 2,264 votes for Obama to Sen. Hillary Clinton’s 2,257. For weeks it was speculated that this could be a big win for Obama, but it was not to be. The candidates will now split the eight pledged delegates, which count for a half a vote each, at the convention. Guam also has five superdelegates to send to the convention, which were given absolutely no guidance by the caucus results.

Voters elected two of the superdelegates. Jaime Paulina, an Obama supporter, was elected Democratic vice chairman, and the undeclared Pilar Lujan was elected to the territory’s Democratic Party Chair. One other superdelegate favors Clinton, and the other two are undeclared. In a race where every superdelegate counts, it will be interesting to see who the other three support.

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Guam was never going to make or break this race, but a clear win by somebody would have provided some momentum before Tuesday’s critical primaries in North Carolina and Indiana. Anyone who tries to speculate based on Guam is playing the fool, so let’s leave this at it must have been nice for the Democrats there to get to participate in a primary with so much at stake.



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