No Simple Solution or Winner

The Democrats have shot themselves in the foot and their political party name may turn out to be the opposite of what will be practiced beforre they can elect a nominee for the '08 elections. Egalitarianism does have its downsides. If we divided up ALL the resources on the planet and gave everyone an equal share, it would not last a day. Some people are responsible and others are not. EQUALITY just doesn't work in ALL areas of life.

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama left Texas in their rearview mirrors and headed home to plan for three more months of political combat. But even as the candidates tried to decipher the daunting math required to lock up the closest Democratic presidential race in a half-century, their surrogates squabbled over which candidate actually won the most delegates in Texas.

The Lone Star State's complicated delegate-selection methods gave both campaigns a plausible reason to claim victory. In final, unofficial results, Clinton won the popular vote, 51 percent to 48 percent. But Obama backers boasted that the Illinois senator had won a majority of the state's pledged delegates — a result of his ability to mobilize supporters in the evening caucuses, which account for about one-third of the delegates selected Tuesday.

You just can't trust the headlines can you!

"It could be our Texas version of 'Dewey Defeats Truman,' " said Waco Rep. Chet Edwards, an Obama supporter, referring to the infamous Chicago Tribune headline that misstated the 1948 election results. "After all the confetti and uncorked champagne bottles, it could turn out that Obama won Texas." Projections released Wednesday afternoon by the Texas Democratic Party based on still-incomplete caucus returns indicated that Obama would receive 98 delegates elected Tuesday to Clinton's 95.

Clinton led Obama in delegates selected as a result of primary voting, 65 to 61, while Obama appears headed for a 37-to-30 edge among delegates selected through the caucuses.

The bottom line is that with just 600 delegates up for grabs and front-runner Obama 658 short of the 2,025 needed for victory, it is mathematically impossible for either candidate to clinch the nomination before the process is scheduled to end with Puerto Rico's June 7 caucuses. Obama remains in the overall delegate lead, 1,567 to 1,462, according to Associated Press estimates.

With neither candidate able to wrap up the nomination during the primary season, Clinton and Obama must try to seal the deal by courting the 350 still-uncommitted superdelegates, including 14 from Texas. These party insiders get invitations to the Democratic National Convention in Denver based on their elected positions or leadership role in the party.

To influence any undecided superdelegates, Clinton and Obama will try to build a sense of momentum over the next three months. Let the super delegate switch get it on! Their goal is to be the candidate with the most elected delegates — something that is becoming increasingly difficult for Clinton to do. The former first lady would need to win more than 60 percent of the remaining primary election delegates to catch up with Obama.

But when all the options are reviewed and reviewed again, there will be no simple winners. It will take a lot of arm-bending and back room wheeling and dealing to get the job done. And in that atmosphere a reasonable person would ahve to say that Hillary (I mean Bubba), can do it best!

Oh, let's not forget that Raph Nader is running for presidet, again! Wait! Maybe we should forget that! :-)