I'm still the underdog, Obama insists
WHO'S AHEAD? | Delegate count so close, even media tallies disagree
For a self-professed "underdog," Sen. Barack Obama was acting a bit like a front-runner the day after Super Tuesday.
Obama won more states than Sen. Hillary Clinton in the massive, 22-state Democratic presidential primary. He claims he also won more delegates. Clinton claims she won more. Because of the complicated math involved in figuring out how the delegates will be awarded based on proportional representation, the results may not be known for a while.
(AP/Sun-Times)
There were 1,678 delegates to be elected Tuesday. Obama's campaign said that by their math, Obama won 847 and Clinton won 834. But the Clinton camp said she won one more delegate than Obama. The Associated Press and CNN have Clinton ahead. NBC has Obama ahead.
Underdogs in the election generally propose lots of debates to get exposure and try to steal support from the front-runners. Front-runners often try to limit the number of debates to avoid the possibility they could get caught in a gaffe and lose their front-runner status.
On Tuesday night, Clinton proposed one debate a week. Obama said, "I don't think anyone is 'clamoring' for debates. We've had what, 18?. . . I am sure we will accept at least one."
But despite all that, Obama still insists he is the underdog to Clinton.
"I'm always the underdog," Obama said at the Four Points Hotel near Midway Airport. "Sen. Clinton remains the favorite because of the enormous familiarity people have with her and the institutional support and the political insiders who lined up early behind her candidacy before they had a sense of how strong I might be."
Is it disingenuous for him to continue to portray himself as an underdog after so many wins?
"I'm never disingenuous," Obama deadpanned. "Here's a fair way to put it: I think we're less of an underdog than we were two weeks ago. . . . I think two weeks ago we were a big underdog. Now we're a slight underdog."
"Underdog" Obama is out-fund-raising Clinton at such a pace that she revealed Wednesday that she loaned her campaign $5 million last month. And MSNBC reports some Clinton staffers are voluntarily going without pay.
After Tuesday's split verdict, and looking at a lot of divided victories in the states coming up in the next few weeks, Clinton's campaign advisers expect the nominee will not be chosen until the party convention this summer.
Obama said Wednesday he expects to wrap up the nomination before then.
"We've still got at least a month and a half of contests," Obama said. "We've seen how quickly things can change. What's amazing is it's only a month since Iowa. We've had more twists and turns since then. . . . A month and a half is an eternity in politics. . . . It's way too early to think this is going to be dragging on into the convention."
Obama lagged behind Clinton among Hispanic and blue-collar voters, but he said that will change when he spends time with voters and they get to know him. Obama plans to spend as much time as possible "on the ground" in the next few days talking to voters in Washington, Nebraska and Louisiana, which vote Saturday.
