Obama nears win amid signs Clinton may admit loss

Tuesday 03rd June, 07:20 AM JST

TROY, Michigan —

Barack Obama crept close to victory in the marathon Democratic presidential race Monday on the eve of the final primaries amid signs that Hillary Rodham Clinton was preparing to acknowledge defeat once he gained the final delegates needed.

Said a confident-sounding Obama: “I told her that once the dust settled I’m looking forward to meeting with her at a time and place of her choosing.” He was disclosing the contents of a conversation the two rivals had on Sunday night but did not describe her response.

The former first lady has given no hint of quitting the race, and she has said repeatedly she may continue her candidacy even beyond the end of the primaries.

But her husband, former President Bill Clinton, strongly suggested otherwise. “This may be the last day I’m ever involved in a campaign of this kind,” he said as he worked for his wife in South Dakota. That state, and Montana hold the final primaries of the campaign on Tuesday.

Obama, bidding to become the first black major party nominee in history, was 42.5 delegates shy of the 2,118, needed to clinch the nomination at the party’s convention in Denver. He gained 4.5 during the day Monday, and one member of the House leadership, Rep Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, readied an endorsement for Tuesday.

Obama’s aides prodded uncommitted lawmakers and other “superdelegates” to climb on board quickly — as Clinton struggled to hold back the tide.

Rep Jason Altmire of Pennsylvania, who is uncommitted, said Obama’s goal was to be in position to seal the nomination Tuesday night, once the votes are tallied from primaries in Montana and South Dakota. The first-term congressman, whose district voted for Clinton in the state’s primary, said he would not be immediately joining the endorsers. “I’m not going to do anything before the results tomorrow night,” he said.

Clinton, the long-ago front-runner, was not far behind Obama in delegates. She had 1917.5 after adding two during the day.

But there was no doubt that the historic nominating campaign, pitting a black man against a woman, was nearing an end.

If nothing else, the candidates’ itineraries said as much.

The former first lady campaigned into the night in South Dakota, scratching for a primary triumph that could somehow persuade uncommitted superdelegates to back her, before heading home to New York for a post-primary appearance Tuesday night.

“I’m just very grateful we kept this campaign going until South Dakota would have the last word,” she said at a restaurant in Rapid City.

Obama, confident of victory, looked ahead to the general election by campaigning in Michigan, a likely battleground state in the fall campaign.

He said that when he called Clinton on Sunday to congratulate her on her Puerto Rico primary victory, he broached the topic of a meeting.

“The sooner we can bring the party together, the sooner we can focus on John McCain and taking back the White House,” he said.

Obama stopped short of a flat prediction that he would be able to claim victory Tuesday night when the delegates were allocated after the day’s primaries. But he said, “It is my sense that between Tuesday and Wednesday we have a good chance of getting that number of delegates” needed for victory.

Obama arranged a Tuesday night speech in Minnesota, at the site of the Republican National Convention that will nominate Arizona Sen McCain in September.

Democratic Party leaders watched from the sidelines, eager for a quick end to a race that drew record millions to voting booths but also exposed racial and other divisions.

Officials said that if Obama failed to gain 2,118 delegates by Tuesday night, one possibility under discussion was for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Speaker Nancy Pelosi to issue a statement on Wednesday urging superdelegates — members of Congress and other party leaders — to state their preferences as soon as possible.

Clyburn, the senior black member of Congress, has long been presumed to support Obama. Several officials described his endorsement plans, speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid pre-empting a formal announcement.

Two Democrats also said Rep. John Spratt of South Carolina would join Clyburn in making an endorsement.

Additionally, a handful of uncommitted senators conferred to plan their next move in the nominating campaign. “A lot of us just feel that the sooner this is sort of put to bed, the sooner we have a nominee, the better off everyone’s going to be,” said Sen Tom Harkin of Iowa, one of the participants.

Clinton has had a strong run through the late primaries, including a lopsided victory on Sunday in the Puerto Rico primary, and she has repeatedly declined to say she would concede defeat if her rival appeared to gain the delegates he needs.

A top aide, Harold Ickes, stressed over the weekend that the campaign reserved the right to challenge a ruling by the convention rules and bylaws committee that he said improperly gave a handful of Michigan delegates to Obama.

But in a conference call during the day with top donors, Ickes said that would probably not happen, according to one participant who described the conversation on condition of anonymity.

Even some of her strongest supporters counseled against it.

“If one candidate has the requisite number of delegates, both pledged and super, it makes it far more difficult to make the credible argument that she stay on in the chance that some superdelegates might change their mind and endorse her later,” said Hassan Nemazee, a national co-chairman of Clinton’s finance committee.

Ickes also conceded that Obama was likely to reach the delegate threshold by Wednesday, and that Clinton would need some time to consider her next step.

He said there was no political significance to a decision to invite staff aides who have worked for Clinton in primary states to either attend her rally on Tuesday night or return home for further instructions.

“There are no more primaries so there is nowhere to send them,” Ickes said.

The former first lady arranged a private meeting with her donors on Tuesday, and was scheduled to address the national conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in Washington on Wednesday.

___

Associated Press writers Kim Hefling, Beth Fouhy, Nedra Pickler, Jim Kuhnhenn, Stephen Ohlemacher and Jim Davenport contributed to this story.

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Latest 15 of 79 Total Comments Show All

Sarge at 12:04 AM JST - 4th June

"I imagine they'll pull it together to beat McCain"

I imagine they won't.
RomeoRamenII at 12:10 AM JST - 4th June

... their delegate system is ridiculous and has definitely hurt them here

Indeed it has. It should be a winner-take-all by popular vote system. But the democrats based it on a form of proportional representation to calculate how many delegates a candidate gets.

Still, I don't understand how obama, who voluntarily withdrew his name from consideration in Michigan, still wound up getting 59 delegates from that state this past weekend.

RR
Madverts at 12:14 AM JST - 4th June

Ramen,

Would you support a winner-take-all by popular vote system for the GE?
Sarge at 12:17 AM JST - 4th June

Madverts - You're right. I'm secretly ( well, not secretly any more! ) rooting for Obama because I want my country to disarm in the hope that all the terrorists we created will have mercy on us.
Sarge at 12:20 AM JST - 4th June

"winner-take-all by popular vote system"

What! And ditch our beloved Electoral College system which saved us from Al Gore? Never!
Madverts at 12:28 AM JST - 4th June

"rooting for Obama because I want my country to disarm in the hope that all the terrorists we created will have mercy on us."

I don't think Obama, when elected, intends to disarm the US. He is simply suggesting a different approach to the so-called war on terror, because as we know, the current aproach has made matters infinitely worse.

Another reason to support the guy!
RomeoRamenII at 12:30 AM JST - 4th June

verts,

The electoral college method does allow less populated states from being overrun by the more populated ones.

Popular vote is a bit trickier because of absentee ballot and voter fraud issues. That written, I would advocate that a candidate pull in at least 51 persent of the popular in order to be declared the winner. Under my system however, bill clinton would have never been elected (or re-elected) president since he never received more than 50 percent in either '92 or 96.

RR
RomeoRamenII at 12:40 AM JST - 4th June

verts,

But obama's Chamberlin approach of talking to Muslim leaders who only understand the working end of an AK-47 or a bomb is not the answer.

RR
Madverts at 12:57 AM JST - 4th June

Ramen,

"But obama's Chamberlin approach of talking to Muslim leaders who only understand the working end of an AK-47 or a bomb is not the answer."

Well, the current approach has failed too. It's even exsaperated the situation as far as I can see.

Senator Obama isn't suggesting appeasment - he's simply talked about opening dialogue, notably with the Iranaians - which seems like a sensible course of action.
DanManjt at 05:05 AM JST - 4th June

According to an AP bulletin I just heard on the radio, Obama now has passed the magic number.
Nessie at 03:55 PM JST - 4th June

According to an AP bulletin I just heard on the radio, Obama now has passed the magic number.

Dan, absurd! He's been 18 for years now. Oh...the other　magic number.
Nessie at 04:15 PM JST - 4th June

And most of her detail is composed of people of color. Need I say more?

Red with rage and green with envy don't count.
Zaphod at 05:03 PM JST - 4th June

Remember how "popular vote" was the big slogan among the democrats 8 years ago and then again 4 yours ago?

Suddenly, the "popular vote" does not mean anything any more. Strange how opinions change :-)
Himajin at 07:56 PM JST - 5th June

>

Imagine if a Republican or even a Libertarian candidate had written, as Obama has , that he or she "found a solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosity against my mother's race."

Did you read the entire passage that quote came from, or just the truncated email version?
Himajin at 08:57 PM JST - 5th June

http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/ownwords.asp

Here's the debunking of the Obama email.