The results of the latest Democratic vote in the race for voters have all but sealed Hillary Clinton’s fate. Although she won in Indiana, it was by a scarce 23,000 votes out of a possible 1.25 million cast, while her opponent Barack Obama won handily in North Carolina.
Within hours of the historic vote, headlines in New York and Washington were declaring Obama the undisputed Democratic nominee for fall election. Although the Clinton campaign attempted to ignore the loss, the assumption was obvious in Fox News reports and online news billboards that predicted Clinton would drop out of the race immediately. While the win gave her another 72 delegates, Obama picked up 115 in North Carolina.
The Obama campaign was boasting that the significance of the results marked a key moment for undecided voters who will be expressing their choices in the remaining contests. It also indicated that the unfortunate recent racial-charged comments by his former pastor had little effect on his success.
Despite an encouraging win in Pennsylvania a scant two weeks ago, where she won the most votes and a majority of the 158 delegates, Clinton still trails Obama in the overall delegate count. And Obama did gain the Philadelphia vote, the state’s largest city, where college students and African Americans gave him the edge.
In this late phase of the race, the news reports could indeed be devastating to the former first-lady’s chances of regaining lost ground. Campaign officials noted that even though Obama had been predicted to win in Indiana, Clinton had emerged successful, so more upsets could be on the way in the remaining states. Meeting with reporters the following morning, Clinton’s strategists were quick to point out that nothing had changed and that she was forging ahead.
Finances are playing a part in these final days as well. With six contests remaining, Clinton has been forced to dip into her personal funds to keep going, reportedly $5 million last month and then another $1.4 million this week. Claiming the loans were a sign of her commitment, she vowed to fight on in West Virginia on May 13 and in Oregon and Kentucky on May 20.
But an MSNBC count shows that currently Obama has 1844 delegates compared to Clinton’s 1695, leaving him only 200 short of the 2025 needed to clinch the nomination. Political pundits suggest that for the good of the Democratic Party, Clinton needs to make her intentions clear soon, as it will take time to unify the Party to defeat Republican candidate John McCain. ABC News suggests she’ll win in West Virginia and then bow out gracefully on a high note. Only time will tell.
