Obama Wins in Iowa, Again

Barack Obama netted seven more delegates in Iowa tonight, two months after the state held its caucuses, the AP reports. How so? Some of the delegates who originally backed John Edwards shifted to Obama during the state's county conventions, the second part of Iowa's election process. These are generally of no great consequence because the nominee is usually secured by now.  Not so this year.

The results bring the AP’s delegate tally to 1,610 for Obama and 1,496 for Hillary Clinton. Both sides had set up camp here before the conventions with an every-delegate-counts mentality. The net of seven may seem small, but Talking Points Memo points out that Clinton netted a gain of only nine delegates in Ohio, the state that helped turn around her campaign. (More Barack Obama stories.)