Hillary wins in Puerto Rico but Obama within reach of nomination
After a weekend that saw Hillary Clinton both gain ground and lose it following the Democratic National Committee’s ruling on delegates from Florida and Michigan, the New York Senator got some good if not lacklustre news with a solid win in Puerto Rico, taking two thirds of the vote.
Clinton won 68% of Puerto Rico’s vote, sweeping Illinois Senator Barack Obama in every major demographic group, according to CNN. As of press time, Clinton had taken 30 of Puerto Rico’s 55 delegates to Obama’s 12, with 13 yet to be allocated.
In was a bittersweet win for Clinton, however, as the 12 delegates awarded to Obama got him within striking distance of the 2,118 delegates needed to secure the nomination.
Clinton trails Obama 1,891.5 delegates to 2,068 delegates.
According to Reuters, Obama’s campaign is confident the junior Senator from Illinois will rack up enough support in next week’s South Dakota and Montana primaries to secure the nomination.
Obama, of course, is banking on pledged superdelegates to push him over the edge before the convention, at this point.
Though Obama has turned his attentions to defeating John McCain in November, over the weekend at a South Dakota campaign stop Obama made it a point to give credit where credit is due.
“First of all, Senator Clinton is an outstanding public servant, she has worked tirelessly during this campaign … and she is going to be a great asset when we go into November,” he told an audience in Mitchell.
“Whatever differences Senator Clinton and I may have, those differences pale in comparison to the other side.”
Saturday, the DNC voted that while delegates from Florida and Michigan would count, they would only count for half of a vote each to penalise the states for moving their primaries without party approval.
The decision got Clinton closer—though not as close as she’d hoped—to Obama.
Earlier this week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi vowed to force Clinton out of the race before the Democratic National Convention.
The delegates awarded in Puerto Rico gets Obama within 50 delegates of the nomination.
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