Obama to take big step in Democratic race
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Barack Obama will take a major steptoward the Democratic presidential nomination when Oregon andKentucky vote on Tuesday, but rival Hillary Clinton still hopesto spoil the party.
After Tuesday's results, Obama will be able to claim amajority of pledged delegates won in the lengthy state-by-statefight with Clinton -- a landmark he hopes will signal thebeginning of the end of their gruelling race.
While he could still be about 50 to 75 delegates short ofthe 2,026 needed to win the nomination at the Augustconvention, Obama hopes the mark will send more undecidedsuperdelegates -- party officials who can back any candidate --flooding his way.
"A clear majority of elected delegates will send anunmistakable message -- the people have spoken, and they areready for change," Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said inan e-mail message to supporters.
Clinton, who has ignored Obama's almost unassailable leadin delegates for weeks and shrugged off calls to quit the racebefore the last of the voting concludes on June 3, was unfazedby the approaching milestone.
"There is no way that this is going to end any time soonbecause we're going to keep fighting for the nomination," shetold a rally in Prestonsburg, Kentucky, one of five events on along last day of campaigning in the state.
She said superdelegates should reconsider the race becauseshe would be a stronger foe for Republican John McCain inNovember's presidential election. Her victories in big stateslike Pennsylvania and Ohio gave her a broader base of supportthan Obama, she said.
"There has been a lot of analysis about which of us isstronger to win against Senator McCain, and I believe I am thestronger candidate," the New York senator said, pointing to anevaluation by President George W. Bush's former chief politicalstrategist, Karl Rove, to back up her case.
OREGON AND KENTUCKY SPLIT?
Obama is favoured to win in Oregon, where opinion pollsgive him a lead hovering between 4 percentage points anddouble-digits, and Clinton is a big favourite in Kentucky. Thetwo states have a combined 103 delegates at stake on Tuesday.
All voting ends in Kentucky at 7 p.m. EDT (12 a.m. Britishtime) and Oregon's mail balloting will end at 8 p.m. PDT/11p.m. EDT (4 a.m. British time). Results are expected shortlyafter.
Obama contends the remaining undecided superdelegates, whohave been trending his way heavily in recent weeks, shouldsupport him since he won the most delegates in state voting.
The Illinois senator will celebrate Tuesday's returns at arally in Iowa, a general election battleground where he madehis breakthrough with a big win in the first Democratic conteston January 3.
A delegate count by MSNBC gives Obama 1,901 delegates toClinton's 1,724. He picked up five more superdelegates onMonday, including Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia.
After Tuesday, just three more contests will remain with 86delegates at stake. Slightly more than 200 superdelegatesremain uncommitted.
Obama has been cautious about pushing Clinton too hard toleave the race. Both candidates have avoided criticizing eachother since Obama's recent win in North Carolina moved himcloser to claiming the nomination.
Obama has focused in recent weeks on the general electionfight with McCain. On Monday, he stepped up attacks on theinfluence of lobbyists in the Arizona senator's campaign andfired back at McCain's criticism of his willingness to talk toleaders of hostile nations without preconditions.
The Clinton campaign sent a memo to reporters saying anyObama effort to declare himself the nominee on Tuesday would be"a slap in the face" to Clinton supporters.
"Premature victory laps and false declarations of victoryare unwarranted. Declaring 'mission accomplished' does not makeit so," Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson said.
(Additional reporting by Jeff Mason and Ellen Wulfhorst;Editing by Chris Wilson)
(To read more about the U.S. political campaign, visitReuters "Tales from the Trail: 2008" online athttp:/blogs.reuters.com/trail08/)