Obama Really Won Today? Not So Fast
by Todd Beeton, Sat Jan 19, 2008 at 02:29:14 PM EST
Following up on Jonathan's post about the Obama camp's claim that he actually won more delegates today, Dave asked Nevada Democratic Party Chair about the inconsistency and wrote the following about his conversation with her over at his site:
OK, I just spoke with Jill Derby, the head of the Nevada State Democratic Party. Regarding the Obama claim that he'll actually get more delegates out of this, essentially that's spin. Derby said that the caucuses are an "expression of the support of Nevadans today." Around 11,000 delegates were elected today. That will be winnowed down at county conventions and eventually at the state convention in May to the 25 that will go to Denver for the DNC. In 2004, Kerry didn't win every delegate on Election Day, but most of the delegates that eventually went to the DNC were his. Once there's a presumptive nominee, the delegate numbers are subject to change. It's non-binding.If that makes your head spin, the short version is that this was a beauty contest, and you can't project delegate numbers at this time.
I just overheard Jill Derby elaborate to someone else, essentially saying:
We didn't elect any national delegates today and it's non-binding.
If you think all this confusion is going to make it more likely that Nevada will forsake the caucus system in the future and return to primaries, don't count on it. The state will continue to push for caucuses because the state has to pay for a primary, whereas the parties pay for the caucuses.
Tags: 2008 Presidential election, Barack Obama, Democratic nomination, Hillary Clinton, Nevada Caucus (all tags)










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