With about two thirds of the vote in, Senator Hillary Clinton has won the Democratic Party primary in the state of Pennsylvania. She currently has an eight point margin. But the places where the votes have been trickling in so far indicate that she may be able to increase that margin.
Most analysts believed that she needed a win in double digits to persuade a significant number of so-called "super delegates," that is, non-elected delegates given voting privileges in the party's convention due to their status as elected officials or party leaders, to support her rather than Sen. Barack Obama, the current leader in delegates and popular votes.
It is possible that Senator Clinton could win by a margin of around 150,000 votes or more but that would not put her in the lead and most analysts believe she will not overtake Senator Obama in the remaining contests.
However, it does freeze the situation in place as the super delegates who have not committed publicly to a candidate will stay on the fence. Some may even have some unspoken doubts about Senator Obama and his failure to win in states with a traditional voter base for the Democratic Party--downscale economic workers, women, and labor union members. Senator Obama's core support comes from Democrats who are affluent, the highly-educated, professional, information society workers, and African-Americans.
If he cannot win those Democrats over in states like Pennsylvania, he may have a hard time winning the presidency. Many Democratic activists say the party will unite behind the eventual winner no matter who it is but even if a small number of the losing candidate's supporters stay home, or vote for the Republican candidate, it could prove costly for the Democrats.
So it appears the race continues as we await the final margin of victory for Senator Clinton.
And in tonight's Republican Primary in Pennsylvania, Sen. John McCain has won. Senator McCain is the presumptive nominee of his party.
UPDATE: Almost 80 percent of the vote in and the margin is still 8.
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A discussion of the U.S. elections and political process from Bill Wyatt, long-time reporter, writer and Supervisory Editor with the Voice of America.
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The VOA Election Blog
- Bill Wyatt
- Washington, D.C., United States
- Bill Wyatt has been a 25-year veteran of the VOA newsroom, beginning his career as a broadcaster, then writer, editor, and Supervisory Editor.
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