Scaredy Cat Superdelegates

Look at that number, up in the top right corner of this blog.

Look at the number of superdelegates who are still uncommitted, the day after Obama wrapped up the nomination.

The number, right now, is 144.5. (That includes at least one person from Florida or Michigan who only gets a half vote, so it's actually higher than that.)

They actually have a candidate of the party, and they're still too chickenshit to cast their lot with Obama.

Gutless fucking wonders.

That number will tick down today, and tick down more by the end of this week, but those people ought to be publicly shamed for refusing to take a stand in what is surely the most contentious Democratic nominating process we'll see in our lifetimes. We can call them the Mugwump Brigade, because the Chickenshit Brigade (the name they deserve) won't make it on the radio, and will never be reprinted in a newspaper or on a t-shirt.

It is because of their sniveling cowardice that this race dragged on so long. If they had made their voices heard a month ago, this never would have gone to June 2nd. This would have been a done deal. But instead, the Republicans and Hillary Clinton got another month or two to bash away at Obama. Thank you very fucking much.

The only people who have any excuse not to have endorsed yet are the top echelon of party leaders - people like Jimmy Carter (who now has endorsed Obama) and Al Gore, who were holding back their endorsements so they could play peacemaker in case the nomination process got out of hand.

But the rest of them suck. They completely suck. They're a bunch of knock-kneed bedwetting chickenshit cowards, and you can quote me on that.

It's Over

TPM reports that he's a dozen delegates away from claiming the nomination.

This is an amazing moment, people. The Democratic nominee is going to be a second-generation American with an African father and a white American mother.

Barack Obama is going to be the nominee of my party.

Like my son, the nominee of the party is going to be a mixed-race kid with a funny last name.

Oliver is going to watch Barack Obama giving speeches all summer and fall. God willing, we'll see him in person again, when he comes out to Washington to stump for Darcy Burner and the other local Dems.

Barack Obama is going to be the nominee of my party. And if everything goes the way it should, Barack Obama will be the next President of the United States.

I have tears in my eyes right now.

Delegate Count - Checkmate

The AP is reporting that, based on public endorsements and private commitments, Obama now has enough delegates to claim the nomination.

There have been too many delegate announcements today to track. (You can watch them roll in by going here - it's easier to send you to their site than for me to steal borrow their data and pretend it's mine.)

I will note that my former Massachusetts state Rep, John Olver, was one of the announced supes today. Good to see he's still serving the people of western Mass. after all these years.

Obama's set to collect at least three, and as many as nine, Montana SD endorsements as soon as he claims victory in this state. I think it's over tonight.

Delegate Count - 39.5 to Go

This was a big day, folks.

Supes today:

Connecticut State Chair Nancy DiNardo

Virginia DNC member Jerome Wiley Segovia

Louisiana Party Chair Chris Whittington

Michigan DNC member Brenda Lawrence

Michigan DNC member Lu Battaglieri

NY DNC member Irene Stein

Florida DNC member Janee Murphy

Washington DNC member David McDonald

Also, a couple of John Edwards' delegates have been moved into Obama's column.
But the biggest news of the day, superdelegate-wise, was SC Representative Jim Clyburn - the #3 Democrat in the House. He endorsed Obama, and began making his own phone calls to superdelegates on Obama's behalf.

I think that all adds up to the total you see above.

Now, the superdelegate count might all be moot, because there are myriad rumors that Hillary Clinton is winding up her campaign tomorrow. She's scheduled a "major press conference" tomorrow in New York City, to which she's invited many of her big supporters and donors. Will she fold up her tent tomorrow? I won't believe it until she does it.

Delegate Watch - WTF?!?!?

A lot happened this weekend. Let's review.

On Friday, Obama needed 41 delegate votes to clinch the nomination; Clinton needed 244. That was before Michigan and Florida were settled.

On Saturday, Michigan and Florida were settled by the Rules and Bylaws Committee. There's a million stories about what happened, so go read one of those if you want details. The long and the short of it is that Obama picked up a total of 32 delegates in Michigan, including superdelegates who have already committed, and 36 in Florida. Clinton picked up 38 in Michigan, including superdelegates, and 56.5 in Florida. The magic number of total delegates moved to 2118, now that Michigan and Florida's delegates are reinstated.

Please note that the delegate decision was made not by the Supreme Court or by Obama's campaign, but by the Rules and Bylaws Committee of the Democratic National Committee. Both Obama and Clinton had supporters on that committee. So I don't want to hear a lot of whining about how Obama stole delegates or how this was unfair and undemocratic. There was a fair hearing, and a decision was made. In America, we honor the people who make the rules and we stand by the rulings.

After Saturday's decision on MI and FL, Obama needed 64 delegates to reach the number of delegates needed, while Clinton needed 240.5.

Supes: Obama appears to have picked up two: Maine add-on Gwethalyn Phillips and Nevada DNC member Yvonne Gates. Al Wynn, an Obama supe, resigned his seat. So Obama wins two, loses one delegate, and the total number of delegates needed drops by one to 2117.

Puerto Rico: Clinton won 68-32%. She gets 38, he gets 17.

The count: Obama has 2071 delegates. Clinton has 1914.5.

Obama needs 46 to clinch. Clinton needs 202.5 delegates to win the nomination.

There are 234 delegates not yet pledged. Clinton would need to get 86% of those delegates in order to win.

Obama needs less than 20% in order to win.

Montana and South Dakota, the two remaining primary states, have a grand total of 31 delegates between them. If Hillary Clinton sweeps the states and wins every single one of the remaining primary delegates, she would still need to garner over 80% of the 203 superdelegates remaining. She can sweep both states and the math only changes infinitesimally.

Got all that?

(I hope this has been helpful to someone. If nothing else, it's helped me to keep all the numbers straight. I'll be so relieved once Obama hits the final number and he can officially claim victory.)

Delegate Watch - 41 to Go

Hillary Clinton picked up one delegate yesterday.

Obama picked up four.

(You'll note that she needs this math to be reversed if she has any hope - which she doesn't - of claiming the nomination.)

His count stands at 1984 - 41 delegates away from the nomination. (Her count stands at 1781, and she needs 244 delegates to win the nomination. There are only 277 delegates who are not spoken for, and that only includes 191 superdelegates. You do the math.)

I won't be able to keep this updated until Sunday, but DemConWatch is an excellent source of delegate news. (Congrats to them for being selected to attend the actual DemCon in Denver.)

Cheers, y'all.

Delegate Count - 45 to Go

One more supe today - Oregon DNC Member Wayne Kinney has endorsed Obama.

That puts him at a nice even 1980. 45 delegates to go.

Delegate Count - 46 to Go

DemConWatch credits Obama with picking up another delegate - DNC Ben Pangelinan (Guam).

They also list that a supe, DNC Kevin Rodriguez (VI), has switched back from Obama to Clinton.

They list Obama's count at 1979, leaving him 46 short of the nomination. I'll go with that number, even though it doesn't jibe with my previous post. So the count is now 1979 delegates.

Edit: I missed two superdelegates - Oregon Democratic Chair Meredith Wood Smith and Colorado Democratic Chair Pat Waak. That's how we get to 1979.

Delegate Countdown - 48 to Go

Today, superdelegate and Wyoming Democratic Party Vice Chair Nancy Drummond endorsed Barack Obama for President, citing his advocacy for veterans.

As of this moment, Barack Obama has 1977 delegates. He needs 2025 in order to claim the candidacy. With Drummond's support he now needs just 48 delegates in order to be the nominee.

I'll try to keep a running update on the countdown. I've stopped fretting about Hillary stealing the nomination. Hold on tight, kiddies - this thing is almost over.