The World Around You

If the reporting from the Washington Post is accurate, and I have no reason to doubt it. The Democrats have a serious problem:

We’ve done a bad job of explaing this, but it is now basically mathematically impossible for either Clinton or Obama to win the nomination through the regular voting process (meaning the super-delegates decide this one, baby!).

Here’s the math. There are 3,253 pledged delegates, those doled out based on actual voting in primaries and caucuses. And you need 2,025 to win the nomination.

To date, about 55% of those 3,253 delegates have been pledged in the voting process — with Clinton and Obamb roughly splitting them at about 900 delegates a piece.

That means there are now only about 1,400 delegates left up for grabs in the remaining states and territories voting.

So, do the math. If they both have about 900 pledged delegates so far, they need to win more than 1,100 of the remaining 1,400 delegates to win the nomination through actual voting.

And Dr. Taylor is right…Democrats cannot find themselves in a situation where one candidate wins the elected delegates and the superdelegates push the other candidate over the top. I hope members of the DNC are beginning to talk about this situation and lining up support for the superdelegates to support the popularly elected candidate. I also agree with Dr. Taylor that Michigan and Florida being removed from the mix may prove to be a giant mistake.

PoliBlog ™: A Rough Draft of my Thoughts » SuperDilemma

Rep. Artur Davis will be running for Governor in 2010…and the assistance he was able to provide to Barack Obama was a good training ground for it.

Davis has talked openly about looking at a run for the state’s highest office, but he always has been careful to say he won’t commit to a race before 2009. This week, Davis sounded like a man thinking a little harder about what would be a historic run for the state’s highest office by a black Alabamian.

“We are taking a very active look at 2010,” Davis said. “Right now I think very few people … are thinking a lot about the governor’s race. But, as we move toward the end of the year, that will begin to change, and by then I will have to make a final decision because running for governor will be a two-year proposition.”

As strongly as I am supporting Barack Obama, I am even more excited about the prospect of Governor Davis. The tide is changing in Alabama and his time is coming.

Obama victory in Alabama reflects Davis’ growing clout, possible aspirations- al.com

I’ll give the governor of Alabama credit…at least he bothers to answer the question of how he is going to pay for his proposed tax breaks.

“We’re going to introduce legislation that will let us collect revenues that have historically been brought into the state,” Riley said.

Riley told The Associated Press the state can recoup the lost revenue by rewriting a law concerning corporate income tax collections that Montgomery County Circuit Judge Tracy McCooey ruled unconstitutional last year. State officials have said the ruling could cost the state $30 million to $50 million a year.

McCooey had thrown out a 2001 law concerning the way the state collects some taxes from some corporations. Riley said he will ask the Legislature to rewrite the law to remove the judge’s objections.

Riley said rewriting the tax law will allow the state to collect an extra $24 million a year, about what the governor’s tax break bills would cost in the first year.

Riley said he is not proposing a tax hike.

“We’re just doing what’s been done for decades in collecting corporate taxes,” Riley said.

He said the bill will specify that the additional revenue be used to pay for the proposed tax breaks.

montgomeryadvertiser.com :: Riley offers way to fund tax breaks