It's the Delegates, Stupid

Chatting with Keith Olbermann about what really happened in Tuesday's Michigan primary. Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum tied where it counts: DELEGATES.

Media momentum fun and games in the GOP presidential race are behind us now. The race for delegates is on and supposed frontrunner Mitt Romney has only a bit over 10 percent of what he needs for the nomination.

It's complicated. There are only four states left that are 100 percent winner-take-all for delegates, offering a combined total of only 123 delegates out of the 1,144 needed to win. The rest are awarded by a variety of formulas that will allow all four contenders chances to rack up delegates without winning the entire state, possibly even preventing a frontrunner from reaching the magic number before the convention.

"Countdown," Current TV, 2/29

Here's a look ahead at upcoming dates for primaries and caucuses offering the largest chunks of delegates:

• March 6 (Super Tuesday): 424
OH, GA, TN, OK, VA, ND, WY, MA, VT, ID, AK

• April 3: 92
WI, DC, MD

• April 24: 150
PA, NY, CT, DE, RI

• May 8: 107
NC, IN, WV

• June 5: 264
CA, NJ, NM, SD, MT

 

 

 

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Comments

[Genna]

02:59 PM on 03/03/2012

Only Rachel Maddow, Keith Olbermann, Cenk Ugyer, and Lawrence O'Donnell talk in delegate terms. The rest of the media seemed to be stalled by public polls as opposed to the strategy the candidates need to deploy in order to get to the final winning number.

Maybe they don't mean to haze, but it gets confusing.