Posted by Jed Lewison on Fri Mar 7, 2008 at 1:47 PM Pacific

Updating the numbers

Here's where things stand on the race to get a 1,627 pledged delegates, a majority of the delegates elected through primaries and caucuses.

We're now using the Obama campaign's numbers (at least until media organizations get their numbers up-to-date).

At this point, Hillary Clinton would need to win 65% of the remaining delegates to become the legitimate nominee of the Democratic Party.

Even though she won a slight delegate lead on Tuesday, she still lost ground. Going into Tuesday, she needed about three-fifths of the remaining delegates. Now she needs 65%.

Things got tougher for her because she's running out of field. I'm not saying Barack Obama should mail it in -- he shouldn't -- but the fact is that he's got such a big lead that there is almost no way that Hillary can win, at least not legitemately.

By the way, things don't change much if Florida and Michigan end up having primaries or caucuses after all. Clinton would still need to win 60% of the remaining delegates. It would be like adding a few minutes to the clock at the end of the game even though outcome isn't much in doubt.