Hillary Clinton may have won more votes in Tuesday’s crucial primaries, but the victories barely made a dent in Barack Obama’s lead, narrowing the gap by only a few delegates. Unless scandal or some other meltdown severely damages Obama, Clinton’s chances of beating him on pledged delegates are extremely difficult.
The strategy for Clinton now is, first and foremost, to stop a growing number of superdelegates from committing to Obama at the convention. Clinton's arguing, given her March 4 “reversal," is they should hold off on decisions at least until the Pennsylvania primary on April 22nd, a primary Clinton is currently favored to win.
Clinton is also still pushing hard for the Michigan and Florida delegates she won to be seated at the convention. Those states were stripped of their delegates after moving their contests to early dates against the DNC orders (neither candidate campaigned there; Obama wasn't even on the Michigan ballot).
Party head Howard Dean now says he’s open to a highly unusual “do-over” primary vote in both states, but refuses to use party funds to pay for it all. On the Early Show, Dean said, "We can't afford to do that. That's not our problem. We need our money to win the presidential race." Governors from both states are pushing for the do-over.
And Bill Clinton (remember him?) was permitted to be seen in public with his wife today, after his earlier outbursts were blamed for hobbling her campaign. The couple took a walk in the park near their D.C. home; Hillary spoke to reporters while Bubba, newly reformed, held his tongue. Clinton has raised $3 million since Tuesday and is expected in Mississippi tomorrow, which has a primary on Tuesday. Obama is now in Wisconsin, where 12 delegates will be at stake on Saturday.
