Who Will Be Obama's Lucky Number 2,025? -- Daily Intel -- New York News Blog -- New York Magazine

Photo illustration: Everett Bogue; Photo: Getty Images

Senator Obama will declare victory in the Democratic primary on May 20, after the polls close in Kentucky and Oregon, according to reports yesterday. Those two states' delegates plus West Virginia's — 86 in all — would not be enough to get him to the magic number (as of today he needs 167), even if he were to win them all. But he'll have won the majority of pledged delegates, and he's expecting to have amassed the commitment of enough superdelegates by then, adding up to 2025th by the night of the 20th. So who will be number 2,025? The one who puts him over the top will have symbolic value, and we have to wonder who he wants it to be. Possibilities for the all-important last superdelegate:

• Jimmy Carter: In some ways he's the obvious choice. The last Democratic president save one, a respected party elder. But his recent meeting with Hamas coupled with today's gasoline prices, evoking the misery of 1979, make this unlikely.
• Nancy Pelosi and/or Harry Reid: They've stayed studiously neutral throughout the race, a few hints from Pelosi that she's a closet Obamaphile aside, but both said they are anxious to get the nominee race settled well before the convention. They have a new Congress to get elected, and all this focus on the presidential race is limiting their ability to do that.

• John Edwards: He'd be a terrific 2025. Edwards has famously held out endorsing up until now, but he's still popular with a lot of the base Obama has been less successful with, and he and Elizabeth would fit right in on an Obama podium, Stevie Wonder blaring, balloons dropping. And he isn't in elected office so he doesn't have the added political complications facing Pelosi and Reid. Except … Edwards is not a superdelegate. How'd that happen?
• Bill Clinton: Ha-ha, just kidding. He and Hillary are disputing the 2,025 number itself, as it does not include Florida and Michigan. But they did say they would campaign hard for Obama if he was the nominee. Wouldn't it be a graceful surprise?
• Bill Richardson: Well, we already know he's voting for Obama. But what if there were another reason to have him on the podium that night?
• Al Gore: Transcendent of what he might consider local politics these days, he has a moral authority unmatched in the party, and great approval ratings. He has no love for his former White House–mates, but the prospect of having to wait through a fight over votes in Florida would probably make him too queasy to jump in. —Ellen McDermott

Obama Plans to Declare Victory May 20 [Politico]