Hillary Clinton wins Pennsylvania, cuts Obama's lead

April 23, 2008

Hillary Clinton, one of the two remaining contenders for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States has won the Pennsylvania Democratic primary.

With 99.51% of districts reporting, Clinton received 1,238,232 votes (54.6%) and Obama got 1,030,703 (45.4%). This translates to an estimated 84 delegates for Clinton and 74 for Obama. Additionally, Pennsylvania has 29 unpledged "superdelegates". Despite her win, she still lags behind frontrunner Barack Obama in the number of delegates. Neither candidate has the needed number of delegates to clinch and secure the Democratic Party's presumptive nomination spot.

Clinton now has an estimated 1,593½ committed delegates, while Obama has 1,721½. 2,024 delegates are needed for an outright win. 306 delegates are still up for grabs at the remaining primaries, caucuses and conventions.

Among the 794 "superdelegates", Clinton holds the edge. 488 of them have publicly endorsed candidates. 256 say they will vote for Clinton, while 232 say they will choose Obama. 306 have not committed their votes.

"Some people counted me out and said to drop out. But the American people don't quit, and they deserve a president who doesn't quit either," Clinton told supporters at a rally last night in Philadelphia. "I've won the states that we have to win, Ohio, now Pennsylvania," Clinton said in an interview on CNN. "If you can't win the states we have to win in the fall, maybe that says something about your general-election appeal."

This morning on ABC's Good Morning America program, Clinton said the result is "fresh information" for uncommitted "superdelegates" that shows "the broad base of coalition that I put together is exactly what we are going to need to have in the fall." "Now it's up to you, Indiana," said Barack Obama at a rally in Evansville, Indiana, where he spent election night. "You can decide whether we're going to travel the same worn path, or whether we will chart a new course."

The Indiana Democratic primary is on May 6, 2008.

In the Pennsylvania Republican primary, John McCain, who is already the presumptive nominee for the Republican Party, received 72.7% of the vote, while Ron Paul got 15.9% and Mike Huckabee rounded out the field with 11.4%.