The End of the Democratic Nomination Battle?
Today the last two primaries of the Democratic Party take place in South Dakota and Montana. Barack Obama is supposed to win both by a small margin. Which rises the question when the nomination process will be over.
With the question about Michigan’s and Florida’s primaries having been settled, the ‘magic number’ of delegates needed to secure a majority is 2118. It is highly likely that Obama will reach that number either today or tomorrow, with a continuous flow of new delegates over the next few days looking likely. This, in the end, means that Obama has effectively won the Democratic Party’s nomination, and will be the first official black candidate for President in the history of the United States.
Another important question, however, is how and when Hillary Clinton will end her campaign. Given the Clintons important role in the Democratic Party and her big support and strong voice among many democrats, the manner in which her campaigns ends and works together with the Obama campaign will probably determine how the general election in November will shape out.
As the tone of the two rivaling campaigns has recently calmed down, there are many indications that both candidates look the end this battle gracefully. Apparently, the question is not if, but when Hillary Clinton will end her campaign. It probably will happen within the next ten days, which gives her enough time to prepare her next moves slowly, so it becomes clear that this his her decision and not forced upon her by the media our other outside pressure.
At first, she might just acknowledge Obama having reached the magic number, which puts her in a better position to hedge her chances of becoming Obama’s running mate (which seems unlikely, but one never knows), or securing some major cabinet position or policy concession by Obama. Over time, she’ll eventually endorse him.
The next few days certainly will be very interesting.
