Howard Dean: Voters, Not Superdelegates, Will Decide

March 6, 2008 — -- Though some expected this race to be over by now, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., is saying she's "just getting started" after regaining momentum with clear wins in Ohio and Rhode Island, Tuesday, and a win of the popular vote in Texas.

But neither Clinton nor Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., reached the magic number of 2,024 delegates to secure their party's presidential nomination. As it stands now, ABC News' delegate count has Obama with 1,566 and Clinton with 1,457.

Twelve contests remain, with 611 pledged delegates up for grabs starting Saturday in Wyoming, followed by Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Guam, Indiana, North Carolina, West Virginia, Kentucky, Oregon, Montana, South Dakota and Puerto Rico.

Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean told "Good Morning America's" Robin Roberts today that he's "not worried." He said party leaders would not force a deal, but "let the voters vote."

"I think we may well have a clear-cut winner. The discussions I'm having with the party is not about fixing the contest, the discussion is how to keep information flowing so that people don't think the process is unfair, how we unify the party," Dean said.

Despite Dean's optimism, the math does not seem to add up.

Using the ABC Political Unit's delegate calculator, in the unlikely event that Clinton sweeps the 12 remaining contests with 55 percent of the vote, she will have 1,793 delegates and will still trail Obama, who will have 1,841 delegates.

If Obama sweeps the dozen contests with 55 percent of the vote, he will end up with 1,902 delegates and Clinton will take home 1,732.

He, too, will fall short of the magic number 2,024.

To secure the nomination before the convention, Obama would need to win 75 percent of the remaining pledged delegates and Clinton would need to win 93 percent of them. Neither outcome seems possible.

"It's going to come down to superdelegates," said Democratic strategist Steve McMahon.

Superdelegates are the roughly 800 party insiders and activists who can vote any way they want at the August convention.