 March 29, 2008
Posted: 06:15 PM ET
Democrats in Texas are holding county conventions Saturday including this one in Travis County. AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama scrambled to secure Texas' last remaining Democratic National Convention delegates Saturday as the state pushed to settle the outcome of the March 4 caucus. Early results tallied by The Associated Press showed that Clinton had 301 delegates, or 60 percent, compared to Obama's 202 delegates, or 40 percent. That's out of about 7,300 delegates expected to be selected at about 280 county and senate district meetings across the state Saturday. Those delegates will decide the final allocation of national convention delegates at a state convention in June. Because of the huge Democratic turnout in Texas' primary and caucuses on March 4, just registering delegates at took hours at some state and senate district conventions Saturday. At large conventions in Houston, Dallas and Austin, arguments erupted and confusion set in as complaints were lodged about the legitimacy of some delegates. Credentials committees heard challenges lodged against the way certain delegates were selected at precinct caucuses in early March. Frustrated delegates shouted at credentials committee members in Senate District 23 in Dallas. Many of the challenges were brought by Clinton supporters questioning the validity of Obama delegates. The Clinton campaign said it wouldn't lodge any challenges itself but that it was helping supporters who would. Obama was also lodging challenges in some counties regarding the complext formulas used to determine delegate counts, said campaign spokesman Josh Earnest. "This math gets pretty complicated pretty quickly," he said. But Earnest said that unlike the Clinton campaign, the Obama campaign wasn't challenging the seating of particular delegates. "They're engaged in a coordinated strategy to challenge our delegates and we're not," he said. "It's disappointing to see the Clinton campaign throw up these obstacles." Clinton adviser Terry McAuliffe said Saturday as he drove between Democratic conventions in Georgetown and Waco to rev up Clinton supporters that the Clinton campaign has "not raised any of the challenges. A lot of our supporters have." The Clinton campaign had previously said it was aiding supporters with legal advice and guidance on their challenges, state party officials said earlier this week. So the campaign is taking a behind-the-scenes approach, using its delegate supporters as the complaint filers, they said. McAuliffe said in some cases handwriting on sign-in sheets at caucuses March 4 were obviously the same handwriting but for different names. One woman in a wheelchair wasn't let into a caucus on March 4, and one Clinton supporter was told she didn't have to stay, he added. "It disenfranchises people," McAuliffe said, comparing the Texas caucuses to Michigan and Florida voters being disenfranchised. At the Travis County Senate District 25, after a credentials committee heard complaints, 12 Obama delegates were removed and twoClinton delegates were removed. In Webb County on the Texas-Mexico border, where Laredo is located, Clinton surprisingly swept all 51 delegates because Obama did not meet the 15 percent threshold of caucus support. Obama has fared better overall in caucuses this year, winning 13 to Clinton's 3. Texas Democrats hold both a presidential primary and caucus. Clinton won the March 4 primary with 51 percent to Obama's 47 percent, earning her 65 national convention delegates to Obama's The state's caucus began immediate after polls closed primary night and quickly devolved into chaos in many parts of the state after an unprecedented turnout of more than 1 million Democrats. An incomplete and unofficial count by the Texas Democratic Party showed Obama was leading Clinton in caucuses 56 percent to 44 percent on election night. A total of 67 national convention delegates are ultimately at stake in the Texas caucuses. Obama entered Saturday's Texas conventions leading the national race for delegates, 1,623 to 1,499. It will take 2,024 delegates to secure the Democratic nomination. Those totals could change after this round of the Texas caucuses. Filed under: AP • Barack Obama • Hillary Clinton • Texas |
 
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