# After the KY and OR primaries, Obama plans to declare himself the nominee **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 19, 2008, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-ky-and-or-primaries-obama-plans-to-declare-himself-the-nominee/449889 "2008-05-19T20:07:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-ky-and-or-primaries-obama-plans-to-declare-himself-the-nominee/449889/1 "2008-05-19T20:07:58Z")
Whatever the results. Story [here](http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0508/10184.html) and [here.](http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/19/barackobama.hillaryclinton?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront) Bit premature? Or can he finally make it stick and say RIP to the Clinton campaign? ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-ky-and-or-primaries-obama-plans-to-declare-himself-the-nominee/449889/2 "2008-05-19T20:22:07Z")
[Denied.](http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0508/10438.html) > [@](#): > > MILWAUKIE, Ore. — Concerned about appearing presumptuous or antagonistic towards Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama will not declare victory in the Democratic nomination fight Tuesday in the event he wins enough pledged delegates to claim a majority. > > Rather, he’ll tiptoe right up to the line, without explicitly asserting the race is over. … > > Obama aides have spent the last week trying to reverse the perception that he will declare victory May 20 — saying instead that he will simply recognize a milestone — in an attempt at message-shifting that underscores the sensitive nature of this phase of the campaign. > > When asked again Wednesday whether he still planned to declare victory following the results from Oregon and Kentucky, Obama dispatched the suggestion with a cool stare. > > “We will declare that we have the majority of pledged delegates,” Obama said, giving the question only three seconds of his time before pivoting towards the front cabin of his campaign plane. … > > "It doesn’t mean we declare victory because I won’t be the nominee until we have enough of a combination of both pledged delegates and superdelegates to hit the mark. But what it does mean is that voters have given us the majority of delegates that they can assign. And obviously that is what this primary and caucus process is about.” > > Obama spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the senator will campaign in the two remaining primary states and perhaps Puerto Rico — a move that contradicts suggestions that he views the race as over. > > At the heart of the bid to steer reporters from the he-will-declare-victory narrative is a recognition that Clinton, who trails by a historically small margin, claims millions of supporters who don’t want her unceremoniously pushed out of the race. And the Democratic party views its chances in November as dependent upon its ability to reunite these opposing camps. … Healing is best served by winning with grace. ---
**Author:** ![LilShieste](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9f8e36/32.png) [@LilShieste](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilShieste)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-ky-and-or-primaries-obama-plans-to-declare-himself-the-nominee/449889/3 "2008-05-19T20:26:22Z")
I’m hoping that the Obama campaign holds off on doing this. While I’m confident that, in the end, he’ll have the nomination, I think it would only escalate the tension between the two Dem campaigns. Currently, I see the race as similar to a small family in a grocery store. One of the kids keeps poking the other kid, who keeps trying to ignore it. Meanwhile, the parents are busy shopping. If this announcement occurs, the situation becomes: the kid getting poked starts poking the other kid back, until they’re both screaming and yelling throughout the store. Meanwhile, the other patrons of the store keep wondering when the parents will actually do something to get their kids under control. ETA: Thanks for posting that link, **DSeid**. That’s exactly what I was hoping for. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-ky-and-or-primaries-obama-plans-to-declare-himself-the-nominee/449889/4 "2008-05-19T20:28:05Z")
He has no intention of declaring victory. Is there a debate that can be salvaged from this? ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-ky-and-or-primaries-obama-plans-to-declare-himself-the-nominee/449889/5 "2008-05-19T20:41:09Z")
[QUOTE=Liberal] He has no intention of declaring victory. Is there a debate that can be salvaged from this? [/QUOTE] Ditto - he said that on national TV this morning. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-ky-and-or-primaries-obama-plans-to-declare-himself-the-nominee/449889/6 "2008-05-19T20:52:47Z")
Well tomorrow it is entirely possible that he walks away with at least 50% of the delegates, which closes the gap in the delegate count to about half of what he needs as he needs about 117. He’ll get between 50-60 tomorrow. It’s possible that both states will mirror each other in their gaps. They both have about the same delegates at 52 and 51 respectively. If Obama wins Oregon by a larger margin than she wins Kentucky, then he can come back with 60, which is more than half of what he needs. I wonder if there is a watershed where the supers just break for Obama. I guess we’re close enough to June 3 that we’re gonna take it to the wire. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-ky-and-or-primaries-obama-plans-to-declare-himself-the-nominee/449889/7 "2008-05-19T20:56:56Z")
[QUOTE=Liberal] Is there a debate that can be salvaged from this? [/QUOTE] Cheesecake: delicious, or _extra_ delicious? ---
**Author:** ![LilShieste](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9f8e36/32.png) [@LilShieste](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilShieste)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-ky-and-or-primaries-obama-plans-to-declare-himself-the-nominee/449889/8 "2008-05-19T21:01:25Z")
[QUOTE=Cervaise] Cheesecake: delicious, or _extra_ delicious? [/QUOTE] What the hell kind of racist question is that? ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-ky-and-or-primaries-obama-plans-to-declare-himself-the-nominee/449889/9 "2008-05-19T21:03:30Z")
[QUOTE=LilShieste] What the hell kind of racist question is that? [/QUOTE] Clearly you’ve never been to Junior’s. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-ky-and-or-primaries-obama-plans-to-declare-himself-the-nominee/449889/10 "2008-05-19T21:29:46Z")
[QUOTE=mswas] If Obama wins Oregon by a larger margin than she wins Kentucky, then he can come back with 60, which is more than half of what he needs. [/QUOTE] Is there any chance he wins Oregon by ~30 points? I know there are polls, but since this is a mail-in vote I’m not sure how reliable they are. The supers are speaking pretty clearly, but at this point, a lot of them are just going to hold off until after June 3rd. It reduces the chances that anyone feels Hillary was unfairly pushed out of the race. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-ky-and-or-primaries-obama-plans-to-declare-himself-the-nominee/449889/11 "2008-05-19T22:02:09Z")
Supers will be a constant flow but not a flood. Enough to give Hillary’s supporters an increasing awareness of her Huckabeelity without actually pushing her. By the time she actually concedes all but the most delusional of her supporters will still be wondering why she hadn’t done it long ago and have moved past the anger stage of the grief process. On June 3 enough supers will have declared for him that the pledged delegates won that day will be enough to push him over the top. Michigan and Florida will be seated. Hillary will then swear her support. Mind you the end game can still be played ugly but increasingly it is looking like it won’t be. Obama gains nothing by declaring himself winner. What Hillary gains by continuing it further (when it is clear that there will be no supers riding to her rescue) I don’t know, but by marginalizing herself she does help the healing process. Could she be doing it intentionally and nobly? Maybe. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-ky-and-or-primaries-obama-plans-to-declare-himself-the-nominee/449889/12 "2008-05-19T22:05:18Z")
[QUOTE=mswas] Clearly you’ve never been to Junior’s. [/QUOTE] Mini hijack - I’ve been to Junior’s in Brooklyn. I don’t know what the heck I was expecting, but I definitely wasn’t expecting a surly staff and average cheesecake. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-ky-and-or-primaries-obama-plans-to-declare-himself-the-nominee/449889/13 "2008-05-19T22:51:26Z")
[QUOTE=LilShieste] What the hell kind of racist question is that? [/QUOTE] Fuck you, I didn’t ask about _Oreo_ cheesecake. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-ky-and-or-primaries-obama-plans-to-declare-himself-the-nominee/449889/14 "2008-05-19T22:53:15Z")
[QUOTE=Cervaise] Fuck you, I didn’t ask about _Oreo_ cheesecake. [/QUOTE] Ya have to bring Halle Berry into this? ::d&r:: ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-ky-and-or-primaries-obama-plans-to-declare-himself-the-nominee/449889/15 "2008-05-20T03:08:27Z")
It would be foolish of Obama to declare himself the nominee. It would be an out-of-character stroke of arrogance that would alienate the delegates whose support he still needs to actually be nominated. Some of them might decide that if he’s taking their votes so much for granted they should switch back to Clinton to remind him of reality. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-ky-and-or-primaries-obama-plans-to-declare-himself-the-nominee/449889/16 "2008-05-20T08:34:38Z")
It would also be foolish if he whipped out his penis and yelped like a Chihuahua. A source close to the campaign said he had no intention of doing so, however. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-ky-and-or-primaries-obama-plans-to-declare-himself-the-nominee/449889/17 "2008-05-20T12:05:20Z")
[QUOTE=Liberal] It would also be foolish if he whipped out his penis and yelped like a Chihuahua. A source close to the campaign said he had no intention of doing so, however. [/QUOTE] In public, anyway… ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-ky-and-or-primaries-obama-plans-to-declare-himself-the-nominee/449889/18 "2008-05-20T12:10:48Z")
[QUOTE=Little Nemo] It would be foolish of Obama to declare himself the nominee. It would be an out-of-character stroke of arrogance that would alienate the delegates whose support he still needs to actually be nominated. Some of them might decide that if he’s taking their votes so much for granted they should switch back to Clinton to remind him of reality. [/QUOTE] That would make no sense, even in the context of a primary season where a lot of stuff hasn’t made sense. Regardless, I do agree that he won’t declare anything stupid because he needs to start shoring up his support among Clinton’s voters. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-ky-and-or-primaries-obama-plans-to-declare-himself-the-nominee/449889/19 "2008-05-20T12:18:41Z")
He could declare himself lord of the dance. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-ky-and-or-primaries-obama-plans-to-declare-himself-the-nominee/449889/20 "2008-05-20T12:31:00Z")
It could be a ploy…float it out there that he’s going to declare victory, then when he doesn’t do it, it makes him look less arrogant/more magnanamous/above it. Adds to his presidential aura.