Opinion: Remember Clinton won the Texas primary? Turns out, she didn’t. Obama did

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Remember how Hillary Clinton claimed a victory in the Texas primary a few weeks ago? And that public impression, combined with her big win in Ohio, fueled donations and kept the New York senator in the Democratic presidential nomination race? And now she’s vowing to fight on right through to the convention in late August?

Well, Barack Obama supporters want people to return and reopen the Texas record book, now that the combined results of the primary and last weekend’s caucuses show the Illinois senator actually ended up winning the most delegates in Texas -- by an Associated Press count of 99 to 94.

The final tally follows the completion of caucus results in the primary-caucus Texas two-step.

‘It appears the Clinton campaign declared victory at half time,’ said Rep. Chet Edwards, a Texas Democrat who helpfully reminds that ‘first downs’ don’t count in the score of a football game.

‘I do believe people left Texas prematurely, as far as the media,’ said Rep. Charlie Gonzales, another Texas Democrat and Obama supporter who joined Edwards for a conversation with reporters this afternoon.

There was a strict norm of politeness being observed during the conference call, as the Obama supporters argued their guy should be the party nominee without explicitly suggesting that Clinton ought to get out of the race.

It was the same line Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota walked yesterday, as she endorsed Obama while studiously avoiding any negative talk of Clinton -- especially anything that looked like a call for her to get out of the game.

Still, Edwards was direct in his Clinton critique. ‘I think in some ways,’ he said, ‘Hillary Clinton would unify Republicans in a way that John McCain cannot.’

-- Christi Parsons

Christi Parsons writes for the Swamp of the Chicago Tribune’s Washington Bureau.