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The Path to the 2008 Presidential Nomination

Arizona Senator John McCain has earned the 1,191 pledged delegates he needs to be the Republican Party's presumed presidential nominee, but the race to amass a majority of delegates in the Democratic contest continues.

McCain will not become the official Republican Party nominee until his party's delegates cast their votes at the Republican National Convention in September.

According to the Green Papers, an organization that tracks the delegate count, Illinois Senator Barack Obama has 1,398.5 of the 2,024 delegates needed to earn the Democratic Party's nomination. New York Senator Hillary Clinton has 1,243.5 pledged delegates. Ten states and territories will hold primaries or caucuses between April 22 and June 7.

Democrats Abroad (a group comprising Americans living overseas) awards its 11 delegate votes in half-vote increments. In its global primary, Obama received 4.5 delegates, Clinton 2.5. Additional delegates will be selected at upcoming conventions. Democrats Abroad will send 22 delegates to the national convention, where each will cast half a vote.

The Democratic Party awards its delegates proportionally, so that if a candidate receives more than 15 percent of the vote, he or she will receive a percentage of the state's delegates. For more, see "Delegate System Aims to Give Nominating Power to the People ( http://www.america.gov/st/elections08-english/2008/March/20080324140500hmnietsua0.4460871.html )."

Therefore, both Clinton and Obama likely will continue to earn delegates from each state and territory, making it now extremely unlikely that either will earn enough pledged delegates to declare victory. If this happens, attention will turn to the 794 party leaders, the so-called superdelegates, who are not pledged, or bound, to vote for a particular candidate. (See "Superdelegates May Decide Democratic Nominee ( http://www.america.gov/st/elections08-english/2008/February/20080204190330hmnietsua0.9187281.html ).")

Democratic leaders increasingly are concerned that a prolonged nominating contest could hurt their candidate's chances in a general election against McCain. These leaders are encouraging the superdelegates to make their preferences known before the convention so that a count will not be necessary on the convention floor in late August to determine the party nominee. Currently 246 superdelegates have announced they will vote for Clinton and 212 say they will vote for Obama, according to the Green Papers.

Obama maintains a narrow lead in the delegate count, leads the popular vote and has won the most votes in more states' contests. Some Obama supporters argue that, based on these factors, Clinton should exit the race now.

Clinton responded to such calls March 30: "I know there are some people who want to shut this down and I think they are wrong .... I have no intention of stopping until we finish what we started and until we see what happens in the next 10 contests and until we resolve Florida and Michigan. And if we don't resolve it, we'll resolve it at the convention."

The Democratic Party has said it does not plan to count Michigan's 128 pledged delegates or Florida's 185 pledged delegates at its convention because those states violated party rules by holding their primaries prior to February 5. As a result of that ruling, Democratic candidates did not campaign in those states. Barack Obama and most other Democratic candidates removed their names from the Michigan ballot.

Each state attempted to develop plans for holding new elections in June to allow another opportunity for their delegates to be awarded, but those attempts failed. The party currently is considering options to allow the states' delegations to participate in some fashion.

THE NOMINATION PROCESS

To become a party's nominee for president, a candidate must win the support of a majority of delegates to the party's national convention in the summer of 2008. For whom those delegates will cast their votes is determined by the outcomes of state caucuses and primaries. Convention delegates are divided among states proportionally.

Delegates are "pledged" (or committed) to candidates based on the votes the candidate receives in a state's primary or caucus. Each party in each state has its own guidelines for awarding delegates. However, all Democratic contests must use some form of proportional representation. Many states' Republican parties award all of their delegates to the candidate who receives the most votes.

Some states' party leaders also select a few "unpledged" delegates, and these delegates can vote for any candidate. A candidate must receive a majority of convention votes to secure the party's nomination. If multiple rounds of voting at the convention are required to select a candidate - something that has not occurred in recent election cycles - most states allow delegates to change their votes after the first round of voting.

Democrats are slated to select 4,047 delegates, so a candidate would need to receive a majority of 2,024 votes to win the nomination.

Republicans will elect at least 2,380 delegates. The party punished Wyoming, New Hampshire, Michigan, Florida and South Carolina for scheduling their primaries before February 5. These states will only have half their delegates counted. Arizona Senator John McCain has earned more than the 1,191 delegates needed to win the nomination.

For the latest information on the recent races, see the Guide to the 2008 Elections ( http://usinfo.state.gov/politics/elections/).

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

Source: U.S. Department of State