Obama is almost there
James Forsyth 8:42am
Raleigh, North Carolina
This morning, Barack Obama is closer than ever to being the Democratic nominee. He scored an impressive 14 point victory in North Carolina and ran Hillary Clinton extremely close in Indiana. The size of his victory in North Carolina almost guarantees that he will be ahead in the popular vote as well as pledged delegates at the end of this process, denying her the standing she needs to make her case to the super delegates.
Obama has had an awful few weeks with Rev Wright dominating the news, garnering more coverage than Clinton and McCain combined, and desperately needed this victory to put him back on the front foot. In the end, he won by a larger margin than expected—the presence of one of Hillary’s crack political teams and Bill’s 49 visits to small towns looked like they would keep Obama’s margin down but they did not.
Standing on stage in Indiana, the Clintons looked dejected. They are too savvy not to know that their last best chance to turn this back into a genuine contest has passed. There’s much more on the night’s events and how they unfolded over on Americano.
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Ian C
May 7th, 2008 12:54pmIt looked for a moment last week that it might be the other way round - close N Carolina and big win Indiana. So it won't go to the convention, but it now becomes a case of whether Hillary will be invited or accept the No. 2 slot. Would BO want Billary (effectivey an ex-President) as a running mate? He might be tempted to think he can get her to do it for 4 years and then plan to dump her. Without her on the ticket he loses in Nov. so some sort of deal will have to be struck.