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Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Edwards: Obama won Texas
Sen. Barack Obama has won Texas and the “game is over” in the state, said U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, in a conference call with reporters on Tuesday.
Five Democratic members of Congress from Texas who support Obama, including Edwards, joined the conference call to put their own spin on the results from this weekend’s regional county conventions. Their conclusion was that Obama had won Texas despite national media reports to the contrary based on the March 4 primary results.
On Tuesday the Associated Press released an analysis showing that Obama had won 58 percent of the regional convention vote, giving him a total of 99 pledged national delegates from Texas.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton had previously won 65 delegates based on the March 4 primary vote, which she won by 51 percent.
“In a football or basketball game what counts is how many points are on the score board at the end of the game,” Edwards said. “The final score in Texas is Obama 99 and Clinton 94. It appears the Clinton campaign declared victory at half-time, but neither super bowls or presidential nominations are decided at half-time.”
When asked by reporters about what effect Obama would have on Democrats in November running in down-ballot races if he was the party’s presidential nominee, Edwards, said independent voters would be key.
“And clearly Sen. Obama with his message of change has been able to reach out to independent voters,” he said. “I think for that reason that Sen. Obama will not only have long coat tails for Democrats in November, but his ability to convince independents and many Republicans to vote for him gives him the best chance to win in November.”
Edwards also answered a reporter’s question about a commonly repeated theory that if Hillary Clinton became the Democratic Party’s nominee that it could drive more Republicans to vote that would otherwise stay home.
“I think in some ways Hillary Clinton would unify Republicans in a way that John McCain cannot,” he said.
Edwards conceded that the overall result of the caucus results could change at the state convention, where all delegates can change their presidential preference. However, Edwards said he believed the result would only change by a single delegate.
After the conference call, the Burnt Orange Report, a liberal Texas political blog tracking the caucus results, reported that Obama’s lead in caucus selected national delegates had dropped by one.
