# Obama leads in delegate count **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 7, 2008, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-leads-in-delegate-count/436633 "2008-02-07T03:09:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JohnnieEnigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dfb087/32.png) [@JohnnieEnigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnnieEnigma)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-leads-in-delegate-count/436633/1 "2008-02-07T03:09:19Z")
"The Obama campaign attached an Excel spreadsheet containing “state-by-state estimates of the pledged delegates we won last night, which total 845 for Obama and 836 for Clinton — bringing the to-date total of delegates to **908 for Obama** ,\*\* 884 for Clinton\*\*.” Source: > **[Obama claims delegate lead](https://www.politico.com/story/2008/02/obama-claims-delegate-lead-008358)** > > Clinton’s opponent captured more states and, by the latest network counts, more delegates. Plus he just raised 3 million dollars today… that’s in one day. He’s leading in campaign contributions too… The only reason Hillary had an edge in cali is because of the absentee ballots. ---
**Author:** ![rikc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c57346/32.png) [@rikc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rikc)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-leads-in-delegate-count/436633/2 "2008-02-07T03:24:50Z")
As an Obama supporter, I was pretty thrilled by yesterday’s results. The next primary days are going to be very interesting. It seems that Obama has a lot of advantages on his side now that he’s made it through Super Tuesday, but who knows what will happen. edit: oh hey I totally forgot to ask what I meant to ask. I’ve been seeing tons of different superdelegate counts on different sites, and the differences are drastic. I know the pledged delegate count won’t be official for a while yet, but how are people getting the superdelegate numbers? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-leads-in-delegate-count/436633/3 "2008-02-07T03:25:17Z")
[QUOTE=JohnnieEnigma] The only reason Hillary had an edge in cali is because of the absentee ballots. [/QUOTE] I’ve seen this brought up several times as if it’s a telling statistic, and I confess, I really don’t understand it. The reason Hillary had the edge in California is because more people voted for her than they did for Obama. Why does it make any sort of difference if they voted for her in person or by mail? ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-leads-in-delegate-count/436633/4 "2008-02-07T03:29:12Z")
[QUOTE=Miller] I’ve seen this brought up several times as if it’s a telling statistic, and I confess, I really don’t understand it. The reason Hillary had the edge in California is because more people voted for her than they did for Obama. Why does it make any sort of difference if they voted for her in person or by mail? [/QUOTE] Same reason Edwards got 10% of the vote. The theory goes that the support you saw for Obama was from about a week or less of campaigning. The ballots were before Obama even began to blather all across the state. ---
**Author:** ![rikc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c57346/32.png) [@rikc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rikc)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-leads-in-delegate-count/436633/5 "2008-02-07T03:30:47Z")
[QUOTE=Miller] I’ve seen this brought up several times as if it’s a telling statistic, and I confess, I really don’t understand it. The reason Hillary had the edge in California is because more people voted for her than they did for Obama. Why does it make any sort of difference if they voted for her in person or by mail? [/QUOTE] Obama closed the gap on Hillary in a matter of days, almost. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that the absentee ballots won the state for her, but I think the gap would have been even narrower had there been less absentee ballots. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-leads-in-delegate-count/436633/6 "2008-02-07T03:35:05Z")
Ah, that makes sense. (FWIW, I voted for Obama via absentee ballot.) ---
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-leads-in-delegate-count/436633/7 "2008-02-07T03:36:58Z")
That’s funny CNN has it at 823(HRC) to 741(BO)(man I just noticed what unfortunate initials he has…) ---
**Author:** ![Menocchio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Menocchio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Menocchio)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-leads-in-delegate-count/436633/8 "2008-02-07T03:39:24Z")
Your info is old, Johnny. He’s raised an additional $2M+ tonight in a “match Clinton’s donation to herself” campaign. ---
**Author:** ![rikc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c57346/32.png) [@rikc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rikc)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-leads-in-delegate-count/436633/9 "2008-02-07T03:40:46Z")
[QUOTE=askeptic] That’s funny CNN has it at 823(HRC) to 741(BO)(man I just noticed what unfortunate initials he has…) [/QUOTE] From what I’ve heard, CNN is using superdelegate counts that are over a month old, which would most likely favor Hillary quite a bit. Again, though, I don’t know how they’re determining that info, especially since every superdelegate could wake up the morning of the convention and say “actually, I love Mike Gravel.” ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-leads-in-delegate-count/436633/10 "2008-02-07T03:43:49Z")
[QUOTE=JohnnieEnigma] Plus he just raised 3 million dollars today… that’s in one day. [/QUOTE] By which you mean $5.6mil as of my posting 😉 His folks put out a call to match Clinton’s $5mil self loan with actual contributions. According to his website, they’re at at over five and a half million earned since the polls closed last night. In fact, I can’t get on to set up my user page because his site is so bogged down. Of course, they must have routed all the donation link traffic to the good servers because you can bet that page comes up 😃 ---
**Author:** ![KSO](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@KSO](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KSO)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-leads-in-delegate-count/436633/11 "2008-02-07T03:56:16Z")
[CNN.com](http://CNN.com) (at it’s Political Ticker) reports that Howard Dean has said the party will broker a deal rather than let it go to the convention. I’ve got no dog in that fight but for those of you that do, will you be OK with that or pissed off? ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-leads-in-delegate-count/436633/12 "2008-02-07T03:57:42Z")
[QUOTE=KSO] I’ve got no dog in that fight but for those of you that do, will you be OK with that or pissed off? [/QUOTE] I imagine that depends a lot on who emerges on top. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-leads-in-delegate-count/436633/13 "2008-02-07T04:08:58Z")
[QUOTE=KSO] [CNN.com](http://CNN.com) (at it’s Political Ticker) reports that Howard Dean has said the party will broker a deal rather than let it go to the convention. I’ve got no dog in that fight but for those of you that do, will you be OK with that or pissed off? [/QUOTE] That depends upon who they broker the deal in favor of. If it’s the obvious choice, no, I won’t be OK with that. But who am I? I’m not even a registered Democrat, I just plan on voting for Obama if I get the chance. Howard Dean and the Democratic leadership cares not one whit about what I think. ---
**Author:** ![JohnnieEnigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dfb087/32.png) [@JohnnieEnigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnnieEnigma)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-leads-in-delegate-count/436633/14 "2008-02-07T04:21:09Z")
[QUOTE=Menocchio] Your info is old, Johnny. He’s raised an additional $2M+ tonight in a “match Clinton’s donation to herself” campaign. [/QUOTE] I saw that. The obama team sent me an email looking for donations to try and match hillary’s 5 million, but when you viewed what Obama had currently raised, it had already passed 5 million. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![JohnnieEnigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dfb087/32.png) [@JohnnieEnigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnnieEnigma)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-leads-in-delegate-count/436633/15 "2008-02-07T04:23:45Z")
$5,798,327.00 as of right now… that’s close to 6 million dollars raised in one day. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-leads-in-delegate-count/436633/16 "2008-02-07T04:27:26Z")
And of that $5,798,327.00 a whole 4.3E-6% of that is my donation today. (I’ll let you guys have fun working out that math.) ---
**Author:** ![ReuvenB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc348/32.png) [@ReuvenB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReuvenB)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-leads-in-delegate-count/436633/17 "2008-02-07T05:04:08Z")
[QUOTE=asterion] And of that $5,798,327.00 a whole 4.3E-6% of that is my donation today. (I’ll let you guys have fun working out that math.) [/QUOTE] Did you mean to put on that percent sign? If so, your quarter probably isn’t doing that much good. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-leads-in-delegate-count/436633/18 "2008-02-07T05:08:55Z")
[QUOTE=XWalrus2] Did you mean to put on that percent sign? If so, your quarter probably isn’t doing that much good. [/QUOTE] Oops. How did I manage to do that? Okay, factor of 100 error. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-leads-in-delegate-count/436633/19 "2008-02-07T05:37:59Z")
Realclearpolitic sez: \*\* Clinton 1012, Obama 933. \*\* [http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/delegate\_counts.html](http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/delegate_counts.html) Thus a small but solid lead for Hil. Surprisingly good count for Obama. ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2008, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-leads-in-delegate-count/436633/20 "2008-02-07T05:43:47Z")
$6,172,475.00 as of this posting. She’s toast. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-leads-in-delegate-count/436633.md?page=2)