The marathon race for the Democratic Party’s nominee for US president is over. Just about. Barack Obama claimed the party’s nomination on Tuesday night, having won the number of delegates required to secure a majority of votes at August’s Democratic National Convention.

The media was quick to declare Obama’s victory on Tuesday. By midday, the AP news service reported two Clinton campaign officials saying that the race was effectively over. More tellingly, the US media also reported Clinton saying she was ‘open’ to becoming Obama’s vice-presidential nominee. If true, this would have been tantamount to an admission of defeat, as well as a clear indicator of her revised objective.

Obama is a victor by any measure in the US’ byzantine party nomination system. He won primaries or caucuses in 29 states, while Clinton managed victory in only 21. Of Clinton’s victories, two states (Texas and Nevada) ended up providing Obama with more delegates due to how they were allocated, while another two (Michigan and Florida) were penalised half their delegate votes as punishment for holding primaries early, against party regulations. By the end of the primaries, Obama led marginally in the popular vote, by about 0.1-0.2 per cent. He had also won more elected pledged delegates, and had secured the open support of more superdelegates.

But Clinton’s showing against a candidate anointed by many analysts as the party’s presumptive nominee in late February has been impressive. After a string of electoral victories had given Obama what eventually became an unassailable lead, Clinton managed wins in Ohio, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, Puerto Rico and South Dakota, sometimes by margins as high as 41 per cent. Yet these sizeable victories were overturned by Obama’s wins in Mississippi, North Carolina and Oregon, as well as the Democratic Party’s decision last weekend to seat only half the delegates from Florida and Michigan.

... contd.