Obama and Clinton near end of historic race
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Barack Obama edged closer tocapturing the Democratic presidential nomination on Tuesdayafter a gruelling and historic battle with Hillary Clinton, asthe last two states held their nominating contests.
With 31 delegates to the Democrats' August convention atstake, Democrats in South Dakota and Montana cast the finalvotes in the five-month state-by-state battle for the right toface Republican John McCain in November's presidentialelection.
Obama needed fewer than 40 delegates to reach the 2,118required to capture the nomination and become the first blackpresidential nominee of a major U.S. political party.
The Illinois senator could hit that number as soon asTuesday night depending on how quickly he wins commitments fromnearly 200 uncommitted superdelegates -- party officials whoare free to back any candidate.
He secured one key endorsement on Tuesday from U.S. Rep.James Clyburn of South Carolina, the third-ranking Democrat inthe U.S. House of Representatives and the top-ranking blackmember of Congress.
"Today the process ends," Clyburn told NBC's "Today" show.
He urged other superdelegates to follow his lead andannounce their support on Tuesday so the Democratic Party couldhave a clear nominee by the end of the day.
Voting ends in South Dakota at 7 p.m. MDT/9 p.m. EDT (2a.m. British time), and in Montana an hour later, with resultsexpected shortly after.
Clinton and her campaign sent mixed signals on Monday abouthow long she would stay in a nomination race that she began asa heavy favourite but now has little chance of winning.
Campaigning in South Dakota, Clinton said the end of thevoting marked "the beginning of a new phase of the campaign" inwhich she will plead her case to superdelegates that she wouldbe the strongest candidate against McCain in November.
"The decision will fall to the delegates empowered to voteat the Democratic convention. I will be spending the comingdays making my case to those delegates," the New York senatorand former first lady told supporters in Yankton, South Dakota.
But her husband, former President Bill Clinton, soundedlike he was counting down the hours at a campaign stop in SouthDakota on Monday. "This may be the last day I'm ever involvedin a campaign of this kind," he said.
OBAMA PLANS VICTORY CELEBRATION
One of Clinton's top supporters, Gov. Ed Rendell ofPennsylvania, told CNN he expected her to spend Wednesday andThursday making her pitch to superdelegates.
"I don't think it's going to prevail, to be candid,"Rendell said. "Senator Obama is going to get the delegates heneeds certainly by the end of the week, then I think SenatorClinton is going to do the right thing and move fairlydecisively to unify the party and we will all follow her lead."
With no more campaign trips to plan, workers who handleClinton's advance travel arrangements have been told to go toNew York or head home until further notice, aides said.
Obama plans a victory celebration to kick off thegeneral-election campaign against McCain after the South Dakotaand Montana polls close on Tuesday night. He will hold it atthe Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota -- the site ofthe Republican convention in September.
A group of 17 uncommitted Senate Democrats met on Monday todiscuss a potential endorsement of Obama. Many are poised toannounce either on Tuesday or wait another day to give Clintona chance to bow out, Senate aides said.
Both Obama and Clinton will speak to a pro-Israel lobbyinggroup in Washington on Wednesday, and Obama said he expected tobe talking to Clinton again soon.
He said he told her in a phone conversation on Sunday that"once the dust settled I was looking forward to meeting withher at a time and place of her choosing."
(Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu, Caren Bohan, ThomasFerraro and Ellen Wulfhorst; editing by Alan Elsner)
(To read more about the U.S. political campaign, visitReuters "Tales from the Trail: 2008" online athttp://blogs.reuters.com/trail08/)