Delegate Trends

Yesterday we were told that Barack Obama, in a visit to the Capitol was doing a victory lap. The pundits have declared him the winner and speculation is rampant as to who Obama might pick as VP -- and whether he'll need to offer it to her. All of this suggests that people are more and more seeing him as the nominee -- no matter what Hillary Clinton does or says. Obama, for his part, is trying to stay focused, speak more about McCain than Clinton, but not dismiss her.

Much of what we're seeing and hearing focuses on speculation -- what might happen. What we are seeing happening is a trend in super delegates. Tuesday evening David Gergen said on CNN that we would likely see a steady stream of super delegates coming out for Obama. So far he's right. Hillary has picked up a few delegates, mainly congressional representatives who said they would back the candidate that won their district. Obama, who picked up about 9 more today, is starting to pull off former Clinton supporters and now is either ahead, just slightly behind, or tied with her for super delegates. Since Hillary has argued all along that super delegates could and should pick the candidate they think would make the best nominee, their actions suggest they think that Obama would be that person. Each person will make that decision based on personal criteria. But, at this point we're seeing them come together around Obama. If the trend continues, in a matter of weeks and days this thing should be over. Yes, things could change, but that seems to be the "trend."