Without A Game Changer ...
With early exits indicating that a big double victory tonight likely eluded Hillary Clinton, her camp is suggesting that the FL and MI delegate counts should be included in the total number needed to secure the nom, boosting the magic no. to 2,209 from 2,025. It's not a wholly new argument, just the latest derivation of the Clinton team's pitch to count FL and MI in her favor.
Politico's Mike Allen is reporting that Harold Ickes, Clinton’s chief delegate strategist, said in a telephone interview that the IL senator could come out of the last contest June 3 “substantially less than 100 delegates behind” Obama’s total if those two states are included.
“We don’t believe that this party is going to go forward into a presidential race without seating both Florida and Michigan,” Ickes told Allen.
they're not moving the bar, they're changing the end zones.
Why is this news? As you noted, the Clinton campaign has always called for seating FL & MI because she won both primaries. That's why they should count in her favor. Even though Obama violated the agreement not to campaign in FL and he took his name off the MI ballot (and now he wants 50% of the vote).
“We don’t believe that this party is going to go forward into a presidential race without seating both Florida and Michigan,”
Again, how is this news? They will be seated. That's never been in doubt. The question is when and how.