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May 19, 2008
Posted: 03:50 PM ET
From CNN Political Producer Alexander Marquardt
Clinton said Monday the Democratic race is not over.
MAYSVILLE, Kentucky (CNN) — Hillary Clinton took a hard line on the state of the Democratic race Monday morning, telling supporters that it is "nowhere near over." “I’m going to make [my case] until we have a nominee," she told a crowd at a high school gym, "but we’re not going to have one today and we’re not going to have one tomorrow and we’re not going to have one the next day. “This is nowhere near over, none of us is going to have the number of delegates we’re going to need to get to the nomination,” she argued. A campaign spokesman clarified, explaining that short of a deluge of superdelegates, Clinton believes neither candidate will have the necessary 2,210 delegates by the last primary on June 3, the number she says is needed because she argues Michigan's and Florida's delegates must be counted. The Democratic National Committee has set the number of delegates needed at 2,026 after stripping those states of their delegates for moving up their primaries.
The Obama campaign has said that after Oregon and Kentucky’s primaries on Tuesday, they will have the majority of the pledged delegates. But Clinton told supporters that she has the lead in the popular vote. "Right now, more people have voted for me than have voted for my opponent," she said. "More people have voted for me than for anybody ever running for president before," she added, referring to previous Democratic primaries. Clinton also made the same argument to the crowd on Monday that she has been making to superdelegates and to supporters for the past few weeks – it’s about the map. “The states I’ve won total 300 electoral votes,” she said, explaining that 270 electoral votes are needed to win in November and that many of the states Obama has won will go for John McCain then . “I still have a cushion if you look at all the states that I have won and take out those that may not be in our column come the fall. My opponent has 217 electoral votes from places like Alaska and Idaho and Utah and Kansas and Nebraska and many of his votes and his delegates come from caucus states, which have a relatively low turnout,” Clinton said. Angling for a big win in Kentucky similar to West Virginia’s, Clinton tried out a line that she used there last week. “You know, Kentucky has a history of picking presidents," she said. "People don’t get elected president without winning Kentucky.” Filed under: Barack Obama Hillary Clinton
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