With Sen. Barack Obama narrowly leading Sen. Hillary Clinton in delegates after the Ohio and Texas votes (margins vary this morning, as they usually do, from 86 to 132), Pennsylvania’s April 22 primary looms as the biggest race remaining, with 158 delegates at stake.
It could have been even bigger.
Any state whose primary was held before April in 2004, and opted to hold this year’s primary in April, would gain a 15% bonus on their base delegate total. (It’s spelled out on the first two pages of the party’s call to the convention.) Move your primary from before May 1 to afterwards, and pick up a 30% bonus.
Pennsylvania was best-positioned to pick up a big bonus at little cost.
Instead it settled for April 22, and a 5% bonus.
That cost Pennsylvania 33 extra delegates to the convention
Abe Amoros, executive director of the Pennsylvania Democratic party, told me it was up to the legislature to set the primary date. “I have never heard the argument of moving it to May,
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