On Tuesday night after the last vote in the Democratic primaries has been cast, Obama will speak in the very hall in which John McCain will accept the Republican nomination in September. It is a smart move by his campaign as it pushes the general election story-line front and centre, relegating Hillary Clinton to the third paragraph of the article. It also sets up an inevitable comparison between Obama’s speech and McCain’s convention address—a comparison that is unlikely to be favourable to McCain who is not in the same league as Obama as a set-piece orator.
The other thing which Obama’s choice of venue suggests is that he might have enough super-delegates lined up to gain an overall majority of delegates on Tuesday night. This would allow Obama to finally declare victory and do so in a general election swing state. The challenge for the Obama campaign, though, is not to get Hillary Clinton’s hackles up; they need to allow her to leave the race at a time of her own choosing. For that reason, Obama might hold back from saying that he is the Democratic nominee on Tuesday night even if he has the necessary amount of delegates.
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