There is no official delegate count until the delegates vote in September at the convention.
I must not be explaining my question in the right way. I know the official VOTE of the delegates takes place at the convention, but until then it has been stated over and over that once McCain reaches 1191 delegates, he will “officially” be the nominee. I would simply like to know which list the RNC (or maybe the media since they are running this campaign) are going by to determine that McCain has reached that point.
Case in point, since the last primary no other races have taken place but magically McCain has picked up about 100 or so delegates. The difference between the NYT count (which only counts PLEDGED delegates) and the AP (which has taken a survery of likely delegates) is 168 delegates. That is quite a difference...
If nothing is official until the convention, then there is no reason for Huckabee, Romney or Paul to drop out completely.
Huckabee has consistently said he will concede the race once 1191 pledged delegates are won. Going by the AP count that won’t be long, but going by NYT’s it may be a while.
Does that make it clear?
Thanks!