National news media organizations have divvied-up Colorado’s Democratic national convention delegates between the Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton – Associated Press has the number at 35 for Obama and 20 for Clinton. But guess what? There is no official delegate presidential preference count yet, according to the Colorado Democratic Party (CDP,) so the media estimate could be dead wrong.
“Colorado is a caucus state so we really won’t know the exact presidential delegate split until the congressional and state conventions are wrapped up on May 17,” CDP Political Director Bill Compton explained. “The party refuses to make any official comments until that time.”
So where are AP, CNN, NBC and the others getting the state’s Democratic delegate breakdowns for the Obama and Clinton camps?
“We have no idea,” Compton stated.
CDP vice-chair Dan Slater did make an estimate on the delegate breakdown after the Feb. 5 precinct caucuses based on the caucus presidential preference support. Compton wasn’t sure if the media numbers could be based on Slater’s figures. From Slater’s website Demnotes.com:
I want to emphasize that my calculations are estimates only and due to the non-binding nature of delegates, the final numbers could be very different…Based on my calculations, Sen. Clinton will get 19 pledged delegates from Colorado, while Sen. Obama will get 36 delegates. None of these numbers include any of the unpledged “super delegates” allotted to Colorado….These numbers should not be interpreted to be anything remotely related to an “official” calculation from the Colorado Democratic Party.
The state party 70-member national convention delegates come from five different arenas and this group won’t be finalized until the May 17 state convention. Super Delegates are already in place, but some have not indicated their presidential preference. Delegates selected at the state convention will represent the party at the Democratic National Convention in Denver Aug. 25-28.
