(CNN) - It's one little point that's making for a whole lot of discussion. Was it 9 points or was it 10? That’s the question many people are asking about Hillary Clinton’s margin of victory over Barack Obama in Tuesday’s Pennsylvania Primary.
According to the most up-to-date vote totals from the Associated Press - used by all networks and national news organizations - Clinton won 1,260,208 votes in Pennsylvania to Obama’s 1,045,444. If you break it down by percentages, that’s 54.65 percent for Clinton and 45.34 percent for Obama. If you round up the Clinton number to 55 percent and the Obama number is rounded down to 45 percent, you get a ten point margin of victory for Clinton.
But if the difference between 45.34 and 54.65 is 9.31 percent - the margin of victory for Clinton - the result should be rounded down to nine percent.
Got it?
(Updated numbers after the jump)
Why does this matter? Maybe because the candidates spent six long weeks campaigning in Pennsylvania, and because so many political pundits said Clinton needed to win Pennsylvania by double digits to keep her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination alive.
But regardless of the margin of victory in Pennsylvania, the race has now moved on to Indiana and North Carolina, the next battlegrounds in the road to the White House.
UPDATE: As the count in Pennsylvania continues, Clinton's margin has edged up slightly. According to the latest tally released by the Associated Press, she now has 1,260,416 votes, or 54.7 percent of the total; Obama has 1,045,910 votes, or 45.3 of the total. That makes the current margin of victory for Clinton 9.4 percent, which still rounds down to a 9-point victory.
From CNN Politics
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GUESS WHICH ONE CLINTON FANS WILL CLING TO?
Rules in rounding in math???? Interesting. It's time for Clinton to get out.
So what? The point is Obama did NOT win. That is the story. He still is not strong enought to end this. He is going to unite the world? He can not unite this party!
it's about time!
NOT! its was 9.2 DUH!
They did say some voters did not have a college degree I think that applies to some folks in the MEDIA!
It was NOT a 10 point victory and therefore she did not win by double digits. She started off with a 20 point lead and once the state got to hear Obama he sliced that by more than a half!
It was irrelevant. Barack is still ahead.
NOT! its was 9.3 DUH!
They did say some voters did not have a college degree I think that applies to some folks in the MEDIA!
More of the cutting-edge news reporting we've come to expect from CNN.
Finally!
Thanks for making it clear. By simple (and elementary) rules of rounding, you round the final answer of an equation, not the measurements in between. and everyone knows 9.31 rounds down to 9, so Clinto won by !single-digit! lead, not double digits.
Dems 08
Give me a break already!
Give Senator Clinton the 10 points!
How many points were added to Obama during his shady caucus moments, ballots missing, problems at the caucus' etc...
Go Hillary!!!!
Sounds like "fuzzy math" to me.
THANK GOD THE MEDIA IS FINALLY TALKING ABOUT THIS...
SHE IS TOUTING THE IMPORTANCE OF THE WIN BECAUSE IT IS DOUBLE DIGITS, WHEN IT WASN'T.
SHE EVEN SAID THE MEASURE OF SUCCESS WAS THE 10 POINT WIN, AND IT WASN'T A TEN POINT WIN.
Yea... I got it. How in the world did she go from about a 30 point lead down to about 10. Sounds like the tide has turned and is going out without Hillary.
Lets just say she won by 10 points and not put it under a microscope already. What is with the media 9 or 10 points she still won give it a rest the Golden Boy lost plain and simple.
The funny thing is..... if the tables were turned and Obama won the state, the number 9.31 would be set in stone or rounded down to 9.
Give me a break!
Oh...it's Clintonian New Math. Great, Hillary. Really bodes well for your education reforms. LEARN TO DO MATH, DUMMY!
The Clinton dont care for causes. They dont care what your numbers say.
Give them the Whitehouse and they then only will the Liars be content.
It doesn't really matter. Hillary won, UNFORTUNATELY!!!
I am very disappointed that even though 66% of PA voters stated that they didn't like her way of campaigning, they still voted for her! I can't follow this way of thinking. They basicly said "It's ok to have a liar in the White House, character doesn't matter, all that counts is her experience" .
To quote Sen. Obama, "50 + 1 is a Win.
Whether it was double digit or not, Obama Lost!
I believe that Obama set a high bar for Clinton and said she had to swamp Obama. She did. Plain and simple. People saw 55-45 and that is a win by any standards.
Being from Michigan I can only look throught the window BECAUSE the Democratic Party threw my vote away and they wil not get it back in November.
According to the way all the previous margins of victory have been calculated, Clinton won by 10. End of discussion.
DOSEN'T CNN EVER GET TIRED OF BASHING CLINTON?
YOU GUYS ARE SO BAIS< WHO CARES ABOUT 1.of 1 % SHE WON
DIDN'T SHE?
What a ridiculous excuse for a story.