The Magic Number

There's been a lot of talk, since just about forever, that Hillary Clinton should drop out of the race. We've discussed it endlessly, and will likely do so until a nominee is selected, perhaps even after that. Everyone seems to have an opinion as to whether she should run, should have run, should continue to run, deserves to run, has earned the right to run, wank wank wank ad infinitum.

Lately there been a lot of claims that Obama has already won, and so, as these things invariably conclude, Clinton should hang it up. "Fair and square" is how one recent commenter described Obama's victory. But allow me to interject:

2,025 delegates are needed to win the nomination. Obama has 1,865 delegates. Clinton has 1,697.

It's been a long time since I've been in a math class, I'll admit that, but I'm pretty sure the principles of mathematics haven't changed much. I think if they had, I'd have seen it on Yahoo News by now.

Math being what it has been since the time of Archimedes, 1,865 is still less than 2,025. And as such, Obama hasn't won the nomination. And neither has Clinton.