Guardian UK: Clinton team braced for Obama to take the lead

[marmar]

Clinton team braced for Obama to take the lead
February votes could see symbolic moment in delegate race

Ewen MacAskill in Washington
Saturday February 9, 2008
The Guardian


Hillary Clinton's campaign team is bracing for Barack Obama to take the lead later this month for the first time in the battle for the all-important delegates who will decide the Democratic nomination.

The race looks poised to swing his way after a series of votes, beginning today with caucuses in Washington state, Nebraska and the Virgin Islands and a primary in Louisiana.

The Clinton campaign team anticipates that she will lose her lead in the delegate count this month but is banking on her regaining the lead in the mega-states of Texas and Ohio on March 4 and Pennsylvania on April 22. It will be psychologically and symbolically important for Obama to take the lead after trailing for so long, albeit not by much. He is already ahead of his rival in fundraising.

The Clinton campaign is expected to change its tack following the emergence of John McCain as the likely Republican adversary. The Clinton camp is expected to argue that she is better placed to deal with McCain on security and economics. Her team is also expected to bring up a testy exchange of letters between McCain and Obama in 2006. McCain accused Obama of backtracking on a promise to support him over a bill to restrict lobbying. He accused Obama of "self-interested partisan posturing". Obama responded to say he was "puzzled" by McCain's outburst.
"It was sad to watch," said a Clinton campaign source. "He has no idea how to deal with McCain."

The two are seeking to win 2,025 delegates, the magic number that would give them a majority of delegates at the party convention in August where the Democratic nominee for the November presidential election will be chosen.

The final tally of delegates has still not been allocated after Super Tuesday. The 2008 Democratic Convention Watch website yesterday gave Clinton a total of 862 elected delegates to Obama's 883. But when super-delegates - the 700-plus members of Congress, governors and others who automatically have a vote at the conventions - are taken into account, she has 1,065 and Obama 996. .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections08/story/0,,2255012,00.html