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Politics

Clinton's delegate gap barely budges

WASHINGTON - Sen. Barack Obama survived defeats in three primaries Tuesday with his lead in the delegate race essentially intact.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton netted only a 12-delegate pickup, despite winning primaries in Texas, Ohio and Rhode Island, according to an analysis of returns. Twelve more delegates are still to be awarded.

In the overall race for the nomination, Obama has 1,567 delegates after picking up five new superdelegate endorsements Wednesday. Clinton has 1,462. It takes 2,025 delegates to secure the Democratic nomination.

In Tuesday's contests, Clinton won at least 185 delegates and Obama won at least 173.

Clinton's victory in Ohio won her only nine more delegates than Obama, with two delegates still to be awarded. In Texas, Clinton won four more delegates than Obama in the primary. But Obama trimmed Clinton's lead to a single Texas delegate in the party caucuses, with 10 delegates still outstanding because of slow returns.

The candidates vied for 370 delegates in four states: Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont. But the Democrats' system of awarding delegates proportionally made it hard for either candidate to post big gains. Also, Texas has a two-step system, with about two-thirds of its delegates awarded in a primary, and the rest in party caucuses.

The Associated Press tracks the delegate races by calculating the number of national convention delegates won by candidates in each presidential primary or caucus, based on state and national party rules, and by interviewing unpledged delegates to obtain their preferences.

[Last modified March 6, 2008, 01:02:34]