quote:


‘No idea what the delegate count is’


The two dozen contests Tuesday were delivering 1,681 of the 2,025 delegates needed for the Democratic nomination, but “we don’t have any idea what the delegate count is,” Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said in an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews. “It’s an early night, and this is not going to be decided tonight.”



That was because all of the states were dividing their delegates proportionally, so a candidate who finished second could pick up an impressive haul of delegates.

Chuck Todd, NBC News’ political director, said that while Clinton was winning more of the big primary states, Obama was picking up significant delegate totals, notably in New York, where he could come away with nearly 40 percent of the total.



Obama was also doing “extremely well” in the states that were holding caucuses, Todd said, particularly Minnesota, North Dakota, Idaho and Colorado.

As a result, Todd said, Clinton could end up with the most votes at the end of the evening, but the delegate split could be 50-50.



“This thing seems razor thin,” Todd said.