Obama Will Declare Victory on May 20

Barack Obama plans to lay claim to his party’s nomination on May 20, the day that votes in Kentucky and Oregon will net him a majority of pledged delegates, a top aide tells Politico, setting up what David Paul Kuhn calls “a train wreck waiting to happen.” For at least 11 days—until the DNC meets on whether and how to seat Michigan and Florida’s outlaw delegates—the Clinton camp will dispute it.

The Clinton campaign is arguing that the current pledged delegate majority—one adviser called 1,627 a “phony number”—is illegitimate, insisting that 1,784 is the authentic figure. An Obama memo warns superdels to expect “new and wildly creative scenarios to emerge” from the rival camp, and Politico expects a showdown in 12 days’ time. (More Barack Obama stories.)