Obama Says He Has a "Close to an Insurmountable" Delegate Lead
SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS -- Just hours after losing the Texas, Ohio, and Rhode Island primaries, Barack Obama appeared on the CBS' The Early Show where he diffused concerns about losing momentum to Hillary Clinton.
"Understand what happened last night, the pledged delegate count barely changed," Obama said.
"We still have what is close to an insurmountable lead in terms of winning pledged delegates and we're very confident about where we are going to be and we then can win the nomination and end up winning the general election."
The results appear to be consistent with what the campaign has been saying for days. On Friday, campaign manager, David Plouffe, predicted that there would not be a major delegate swing for either candidate. Last night, chief strategist, David Axelrod, called the March 4 contests a "wash" and said Hillary Clinton was due to win an election after losing eleven contests in a row.
The campaign is already looking forward to Saturday's Wyoming caucuses and next Tuesday's Mississippi primary, where they have been organizing for over a week now. Axelrod said the campaign is hopeful about winning those states and will stay in the race as long as is necessary. "You end it when the process is over and one side has more delegates," Axelrod said.
Today, Obama heads back to Chicago with his wife Michelle. He is expected to return to the campaign trail on Friday.