Interesting piece of article on CNN earlier. Now with Obama getting the delegate lead even when you factor in the super delegate votes, you certainly should not expect any congratulations now until the race is done.
EL PASO, Texas (CNN) – For the second election night in a row, Hillary Clinton failed to acknowledge or congratulate Barack Obama after he won the day in dominating fashion.
On Tuesday in El Paso, hours after Virginia had been called for Obama, she stuck to her “Texas campaign kickoff” message and did not stray from an energetic, Lone Star-themed stump speech. She did mention Obama by name, only to chide his health care plan.
On Saturday night in Richmond, Virginia, Clinton spoke to a crowd of thousands at the state’s annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner, but she ignored Obama’s quartet of blowout primary and caucus wins that day as well (Obama also won the Maine caucuses the next day).
The courtesy of conceding a primary or caucus loss — and then congratulating your opponent — is by no means required. But it has become standard practice during campaign season.
Clinton congratulated Obama and John Edwards after their first and second place finishes in the Iowa caucuses. Obama returned the favor in New Hampshire, saying Clinton “did an outstanding job.” That courtesy continued through the early states.
But as the race has shifted to a delegate chase with dozens of states in play around the country, the notion of congratulating one’s opponent seems, for Clinton, to have fallen by the wayside.
– CNN Political Producer Peter Hamby
Key Dates to look out for: State (Delegates)
March 4: Ohio (161) and Texas (228) Primaries
April 22: Pennsylvania (188)
May 6: North Carolina (134)
Those are the last four states left with triple digit delegates left and with the total difference still barely in double digits, I expect March 4 to be crucial. Obama needs to make inroads in Texas and certainly this momentum will help.
To think it is February 13th now and people expected this race to be over after over a month ago following Iowa and New Hampshire. How crucial would Florida and Michigan primaries be, had they not decided to defy party rules and push their primaries before the February 5th deadline… The world will never know.
We’ll probably find out how important Florida and Michigan are at the Convention, because many experts are predicting that the Democratic party will somehow allow them back into mattering.