Free Republic

Barack Obama can fully accept Hillary Rodham Clinton’s terms on Michigan and Florida and still win a majority of pledged Democratic delegates on June 1, allowing him to lay claim to the nomination under the New York senator’s own rules. A Politico analysis of the delegate numbers after Tuesday’s primaries in North Carolina and Indiana shows Obama can concede to Clinton’s position on Michigan and Florida and still claim victory — potentially forestalling the Democratic nightmare scenario of a floor fight at the Denver convention. The Clinton campaign rejected the premise of Politico’s analysis, dismissing it as “artificial metrics” that...

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton struck a publicly defiant posture on Wednesday about continuing her presidential bid despite waning support from Democratic officials and donors. Some of her advisers acknowledged privately that they remained unsure about the future of her candidacy. With the political world trained on Mrs. Clinton’s financial and electoral viability, Senator Barack Obama moved closer to becoming the first African-American presidential nominee of a major party. Mr. Obama spent the day at home in Chicago, after increasing his delegate lead in Tuesday’s primaries — a result that led David Plouffe, a top Obama aide, to say on Wednesday,...

Hillary Clinton can change her message, change her campaign manager, even change her hairstyle—but she can’t change the delegate math that makes it almost impossible for her to win the Democratic presidential nomination. In several ways, recent news has been good to Clinton. She continues to win in states like Ohio and Pennsylvania where there are large numbers of white working-class voters. Arguably, her coalition of white working-class and Hispanic voters is equal to Obama’s coalition of white-collar and African-American voters. Obama has been on the defensive lately, dealing with the continuing problem of his former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright,...