How Close is Obama?

Obama’s close to clinching this, counting delegates and superdelegates. After the Michigan and Florida issue was resolved (barring anything bizarre from Clinton), the new magic number is 2,118.

It’s almost 1PM Pacific time right now. According to the Obama campaign, they are 30.5 delegates away. A bunch of superdelegates are declaring for Obama today, and Montana and South Dakota should push him over the top. There are 16 pledged delegates up for grabs in Montana, and 15 pledged delegates from South Dakota. The last polls close at 10PM Eastern time.

It is important to note that Michigan and Florida superdelegates only get half a vote.

The Obama HQ Blog is probably the best place to get the updates on the superdelegates.

UPDATE – 4:13PM – Obama’s campaign puts him 10 away from clinching, and MSNBC puts him 11 away. That means Obama will clinch tonight, even if he loses both South Dakota and Montana. As I said above, there’s 31 pledges delegates up for grabs and there’s no way he’s losing by the margins staggering enough to deny him the win tonight. Besides, there’s still a few hours left for a few more superdelegates.

Note: NBC says they don’t count commitments until they’re public. I wonder if they counted Carter yet.

UPDATE – 5:06PM – CNN says Obama is only 5 delegates away from winning. That means Obama will win with the delegates from just one state.