DNC Rules Committee Reaches Decision

The DNC Rules Committee met today to try and reach a resolution to Florida and Michigan. They entertained 3 motions.

The first would seat all the Florida delegations, both pledged and unpledged, giving them each 1 full vote.

The motion failed 12-15

The second would seat the full delegations, both pledged and unpledged, giving them each 1/2 vote. It would also apportion the delegates as such:

Hillary Clinton would get 104 delegates, or 52.5 votes.
John Edwards would get 13 delegates, or 6.5 votes.
Barack Obama would get 67 delegates, or 33.5 votes.

The motion passed 27-0

The third motion was regarding Michigan, it would seat the full delegations, both pledged and unpledged, giving them each 1/2 vote. It would also apportion the delegates as such:

Hillary Clinton would get 69 delegates, or 34.5 votes.
Barack Obama would get 59 delegates, or 29.5 votes.

The motion passed 19-8

All would seem well, however, Hillary Clinton has said that she reserves the right to bring this to the DNC Credentials Committee, which won't be meeting until July. Most would hope that she will not do that, though. If she does, then there is a very good chance that this will go to the Convention in Denver, which will almost ensure John McCain will win the general election.

For the time being, the goalpost for the nomination has moved, the new magic number is 2,118, up from 2,026. Here are the current delegate estimates:

Hillary Clinton: 1,877 delegates; 241 needed to nominate
Barack Obama: 2,050 delegates; 68 needed to nominate

On the primary calendar, Puerto Rico, with 55 delegates, holds it's primary tomorrow. Then comes Montana, with 16 delegates, and South Dakota, with 15, on Tuesday.

Clinton is leading in Puerto Rico by about 20 points, though the poll was conducted over a 2 week period, so there's a chance those numbers don't reflect the current situation. Obama is leading in Montana by about 20 points, with no polls from South Dakota.