Bill Burton, Barack Obama's campaign press secretary, just sent out a cryptic e-mail to reporters. "fyi... based on exit polling data our campaign is prepared to call the delgate count at 7 pm eastern (sic)," Burton wrote in the subject line of his missive. The body of the e-mail read only "Developing..."
Full disclosure -- it took a couple of us here at Salon (yes, including me) a little while to get it, so for readers, here's a textual analysis sure to sap all humor from the punch line. See, the joke is that everyone knows the delegate count from Florida's Democratic primary: Due to the Democratic Party's sanctions against Florida because of the state Legislature's decision to move the primary up ahead of the date the parties wanted, the state's Democratic delegates don't -- for the moment, at least -- count at all. The delegate count is zero. Obama's camp is just trying to poke a little fun at Hillary Clinton's campaign for the importance that the Clinton campaign has placed on Florida, since it's Clinton who's expected to come away with the victory tonight.
Update: Burton has sent out a follow-up. In an e-mail titled "Breaking..." he writes, "Obama and Clinton tie for delegates in Florida. 0 for Obama, 0 for Clinton."
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