California’s Delegate Count: An Exercise in Futility?

Both campaigns admit this, and both expect the race to go all the way to the National Convention. And while we don’t know what will happen tonight, it’s fair to predict that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will receive an equal number of California delegates. That’s because most of our Congressional Districts have an even number of delegates – so unless one candidate blows the other one out of the water in a few districts, we’re likely to have stalemate in the statewide total. But that’s not the case in New York (Clinton’s home turf) – where 23 out of 29 Congressional Districts have an odd number of delegates, which enables a clear mandate for the majority winner. And considering Clinton’s edge among the so-called “superdelegates,” the nomination fight is likely to go on for months – despite clear public momentum for Obama’s insurgent candidacy.

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