Clinton wins most delegates in Pennsylvania primary
By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER =96 5 hours ago
WA****NGTON (AP) =97 Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton won the most delegates
in Pennsylvania's Democratic primary, but Sen. Barack Obama limited
her gains.
Clinton won at least 82 of the 158 delegates up for grabs in Tuesday's
contest, according to an analysis of election returns by The
Associated Press. Obama won at least 73, with three still to be
awarded.
Obama limited Clinton's delegate gain by doing well in the
Philadelphia area, which was rich with delegates because of the way
Pennsylvania ap****tions them among congressional districts.
Like all Democratic contests, Pennsylvania awarded delegates
pro****tionally, based on the statewide vote as well as the vote in
individual congressional districts. Pennsylvania divvied up
congressional district delegates based on Democratic voting strength
in the most recent presidential and gubernatorial elections.
That resulted in congressional districts in the Philadelphia area with
seven or nine delegates at stake. Other districts in more rural parts
of the state had three, four or five delegates at stake.
Clinton dominated the state outside the Philadelphia area, winning 60
of 67 counties in unofficial returns.
The final delegate count was delayed because many of Pennsylvania's
counties are split into multiple congressional districts. Election
officials were working Wednesday to assign votes from split counties
to the appropriate congressional districts. Some counties didn't
expect complete results until Thursday or Friday.
In the overall race for the nomination, Obama led with 1,723.5
delegates, including superdelegates. Clinton had 1,592.5, according to
the AP tally.
It will take 2,025 delegates to secure the Democratic nomination.
Obama picked up two superdelegate endorsements Wednesday and Clinton
picked up one. Superdelegates are the party and elected officials who
automatically attend the convention and can sup****t whomever they
choose, regardless of what happens in the primaries and caucuses.
The delegate breakdown:
Pledged delegates won in primaries and caucuses: Obama, 1,488.5;
Clinton, 1,333.5.
Superdelegates: Obama, 235; Clinton, 259.
The AP tracks the delegate races by calculating the number of national
convention delegates won by candidates in each presidential primary or
caucus, based on state and national party rules, and by interviewing
unpledged delegates to obtain their preferences.
Most primaries and some caucuses are binding, meaning delegates won by
the candidates are pledged to sup****t that candidate at the national
conventions this summer.
Political parties in some states, however, use multistep procedures to
award national delegates. Typically, such states use local caucuses to
elect delegates to state or congressional district conventions, where
national delegates are selected. In these states, the AP uses the
results from local caucuses to calculate the number of national
delegates each candidate will win, if the candidate's level of sup****t
at the caucus doesn't change.
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