Polls show Polls show Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will likely split Tuesday's primary states one-for-one once again, with Obama picking up Oregon and Clinton winning Kentucky. What was true last week, and the week before, and the week before that (etc.) remains true today: Clinton cannot win the nomination without a now totally unlikely superdelegate coup overturning both the popular vote and the pledged delegate count. So given all that, should Obama declare victory in Iowa on Tuesday night -- as he's expected to do -- regardless of Clinton's willingness to drop out of the race?
I'd argue the answer to that question is no: The Obama team should be pressuring, cajoling, and threatening the Clintons and their machine behind closed doors to drop out well before the convention. But until the voting ends on June 3, Obama should not publicly declare victory unless Clinton agrees to admit defeat. That's very unlikely to happen as long as she continues to win primaries; she's just too focused on finishing the process. And it's true that people in the late voting states are mobilized and excited. Why tamp down on their engagement?
As we saw with the outrage over NARAL's endorsement of Obama last week, many Clinton supporters, even if they've essentially accepted her loss, will not accept any appearance of her being pushed out of this long, exciting race before every Democrat has had the chance to vote. Now that we're just 15 days from the finish line, he should hold tight. After that, it will look much less unsightly for Obama to declare the race over and himself its winner, whatever Hillary Clinton thinks of the matter.
--Dana Goldstein
